There’s still time to donate to Toy Mountain

You can consider Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Constable Tricia Nesbitt one of Santa’s many helpers.

For the past 20 years, she has been coordinating donations from members of the Service for Toy Mountain, a charity that provides new toys to children in our city that would otherwise go without this holiday season.

Along with Court Liaison Coordinator Chantel Hoang and Communication Centre’s Joelle Martin, the group was busy gathering toys from OPS members at its many locations city-wide to stuff into a van and brighten someone’s Christmas morning.

“I love doing this each year, every child should have something to open at Christmas,” said Cst. Nesbitt. “But traditional cash donations are down compared to other years.”

In particular, says Cst. Nesbitt, there was a shortage of gifts for infants and girls ages 8 to 12-years-old.

“Gift cards and movie passes are ideal gifts for the older children,” said Cst. Nesbitt. “But you can also donate money to Toy Mountain directly and staff will purchase any items that are still needed in time for Christmas.”

Speaking of which, there’s still time to donate if you haven’t yet. Toy Mountain organizers are accepting donations right up until December 23. You can visit the website to learn more.

“A lot of our donations this year came as cash due to people still working from home,” said Cst. Nesbitt. “But we were still able to bring Toy Mountain a passenger van filled to the brim with new toys. I’m always so grateful for how generous our members are for kids in need.”