There were no kids in the toy store, but with the palpable excitement in the air, you’d be forgiven in thinking that there was.
On the evening of Dec. 3, 2024, city councillors and staffers for the City of Whitehorse converged on Angelina’s Toy Boutique in downtown Whitehorse to pick out gifts from the tall walls of toys for the Whitehorse Firefighters’ Charitable Society toy drive.
The charity kicked off their toy drive in November for the ninth year in a row, although firefighter Nicholas O’Carroll stressed that other groups had been running the toy drive since the 1990s.
This year, however, the charity is expecting to give around 1,100 children across the territory something to unwrap on Christmas Day.
“I think the cost of everything is just hitting people and so, yeah, this will be an increased year which we’ll work towards,” said O’Carroll.
The majority of the charity’s fundraising throughout the year goes towards the toy drive, said O’Carroll. Applicants from across the territory are invited to apply with wishlists for their children, and sponsors can purchase the presents, while the charity takes care of those without sponsors.
At Angelina’s, councillors and staff were crossing items off of checklists for children in Old Crow. The cost of the presents was covered by the charity.
Among the aisles of Angelina’s, Councillor Paolo Gallina told the News he’s happy to support the initiative. He attended the event with his daughters, who were helpful in choosing out gifts.
“I’m here with a few of my girls, collecting gifts, and we're reading the wishes of children that have written out what they want,” said Gallina.
In between organizing piles of presents, Angelina’s Toy Boutique owner Betty Burns told the News the Firefighters’ Charitable Society have been very generous in choosing to shop local.
“They bring a whole host of really learned people coming in, and enjoying the opportunity to select gifts on behalf of the charity for Yukon kids,” said Burns.
“And so tonight, we'll do our magic. We'll wrap up all these things and tag them appropriately, and we'll box them, and we'll get them ready to go to the community, and each individual home that they go to,” said Burns.
O’Carroll told the News the charity also ensures that all families get a hot meal of turkey and fixings for Christmas. The only exception is families in Old Crow, who receive a $200 credit at the local co-op.
O’Carroll said the charity had an “existential crisis” in its third year of running the toy drive. He said they were not sure that the toys were actually helping those in need. However, he said a social worker who would refer clients to the toy drive clarified the importance.
The social worker told O'Carroll that children may feel excluded when they get to school after the holidays and other children are talking about what they got for Christmas. The social worker told him that overall sense of exclusion can contribute to addictions or antisocial behaviour down the line, said O'Carroll.
He said it can also promote connection between families, especially if a child experienced disruptions like being in foster care. It also allows parents to feel that they can provide for their child, he said, even if it is a more difficult task for the other 364 days of the year.
O’Carroll recalled the delivery day in 2020 when all the gifts had been sent out, and a van from the Whitehorse corrections facility pulled up with a cash donation. It turned out the cash donation came from prisoners. The work programs in the prison direct some of the money paid into a fund, which prisoners can choose to direct to a charity of their choice.
“Apparently the prisoners from Old Crow got everyone convinced to give it to us, for what we were doing for the community. And it was like, holy cow,” said O’Carroll. “Okay, I guess, yeah, it's not just presents. It's, it's kind of the meaning behind it.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
