Tom Brown is an exuberant, ebullient man. I’ve known him for several years, even before his current position as weather anchor, and have never seen him at anything less than full spirit. From personal experience I can tell you that he is always the first to spot if you’re feeling low and can help you find reserves you didn’t know existed. Naturally this makes him the perfect figurehead for Toy Mountain, a charitable drive run by the Salvation Army and supported by CTV’s news team in Toronto. He’s asking for a mountain of 120,000 toys and by golly he’ll make you feel needed for the cause.

Tom "To 120,000 & Beyond" Brown 

Last night CFTO broadcasted a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Toy Mountain warehouse, with Tom Brown, Austin Delaney, Janice Golding, Paul Bliss, Natalie Johnson, Galit Solomon, and Pat Foran all donning aprons to help unload toys from delivery vehicles and sort them into storage areas designated by age. For years I’ve donated toys to the drive, have always been curious as to what happens to them, and the team was kind enough to let me tag along for a look.

Janice Golding loads up on fast cars. 

The volunteers at the Salvation Army are gregarious, kind, and very, very funny. All ages and from every walk of life, I found the ease with which they made each other laugh as they prepared to work late into the night engaging and comforting. They asked that I not take their picture or publish their names, but were quick to let me hang out with them and chat about the program.

Natalie Johnson has a toy truck for the little ones.  

There are toy drives in every country and province, run by several different organizations, but they all have the same challenges in common:

There’s never enough baby toys to go around. Blocks, cloth books, and soft learning toys are the kind of donations many people tend to overlook.

Teens are badly underserved. They may not be cute any more, but they are still part of the family. Strategy board games, sophisticated crafts, science kits, etc. these are also the kind of things donators tend to overlook.

Electronics are fine. Even robots need a good home. We now live in a world driven by technology and it’s important that no kid is left out. The volunteers are adapt at making sure that electronic donations are given with all the right batteries or accessories needed and several corporate donators, such as Canadian Tire, step up and help give what’s needed for these items.

Batteries are welcome. If the toy you’re giving needs batteries you can help by taping a package of the needed batteries to the front of the box. DO NOT insert the batteries into the toy’s packaging. When you have thousands of toys being gathered into a warehouse, the batteries have to be stored separately for health and safety reasons. When each toy is passed on, Toy Mountain makes sure to include the needed batteries with it.

Toys Are Your Choice. There is no banned toy list. The attitude amongst the volunteers is that this is your gift and your thought behind it. Give what you think kids will appreciate.

Toy Drives Serve All Neighbourhoods. There simply are no patterns. This isn’t about “bad” neighbourhoods or difficult backgrounds. Toy drives can serve a family working to rise above humble means or another that has just watched their home burn to the ground on Christmas Eve. It’s all over the map and never the kind of scenario you’d think of.

 

The CFTO Toy Mountain team. 

This is a real challenge for Toy Mountain as people want to know. When I asked the volunteers about it, they reacted as if it was the thousandth time they were asked and became guarded, simply because it’s not their place to pass on such details. All lives have their ups and downs, sometimes the stars align and decide your time to be challenged has come and when you’re having the worst day of your life you certainly don’t want to talk about it or share it with the world. At Toy Mountain they respect that need for privacy.

Life is strange and can be disappointing in so many unpredictable ways. When you donate an unwrapped toy to Toy Mountain or the charitable drive in your neighbourhood you can help make life predictably good for a change.

Click here for details on CTV Toronto’s upcoming Toy Mountain events and watch their special broadcasts online.