Prime Minister Mark Carney stopped by an Ottawa fire station on Saturday morning to make a donation to CTV & Move 100’s Toy Mountain campaign.
The Toy Mountain Campaign aims to ensure each child in Ottawa has a gift to open on Christmas morning, and Glen van Gulik of the Salvation Army says the Prime Minister and his wife Diana Fox Carney’s donation helps bring the campaign one step closer to achieving its goal.
“It was so great to receive the prime minister and of course madame, who were dropping off toys from their team after they had a secret Santa and wanted to make sure that every child in their riding had a toy under the tree this Christmas,” van Gulik said.
Carney also took some time to tour Ottawa Fire Station 44 on Greenbank Road and speak with fire fighters.
“Always very generous with their time and that was evident today,” said van Gulik, referring to Carney and his team. “Stopping and chatting with everybody that was here, firefighters from here at station 44 in his riding, but also the rural firefighters that were here on a training exercise.”
Cameron Taylor, chair of parades for the Ottawa Professional Firefighters Association, says the Toy Mountain campaign is a perfect example of the holiday spirit.
“It’s incredible because the community this time of year comes together and really makes a difference,” Taylor said. “We had the two parades and the community brought together over 3,500 toys and we’re still counting. We’re on our way to 5,000 already and we’re over $45,000 of cash collected and it’s just a testament to everyone coming together to help people out when they need it.”
Van Gulik says Toy Mountain is going extremely well, but the team still needs more toys as there are more families accessing services this year.
“The numbers are up from last year at this time,” said van Gulik. “We expect to again serve more children and families in need this holiday season, anywhere from 7000 to 8000 families will be accessing CTV & Move 100’s Toy Mountain campaign.”
Donations can be made at Toy Mountain toy bins until Dec. 19.