Toys for Tots donating hampers for children in remote communities across Canada

Toys for Tots Canada will be putting a smile on the faces of as many children in remote communities as they can this Christmas. 

The volunteer-run charity will deliver toys to areas such as Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, and Smiths Falls, Ont.

The group collects, sorts, and distributes more than 20,000 toys for young boys and girls every year. Gift items include arts and craft sets, games, dolls, cars, and stuffed animals. 

Canadian Tire locations serve as drop-off locations, along with businesses in the London, Ont., region that help collect toys for the charity.

Incoming toys are sorted according to age and gender, which are packed into hampers consisting of about five gifts in each.

"If we had just one gift it would be hard to make it meaningful, so we want to make sure that when a child wakes up on Christmas Day, they have something to look forward to, with not just one gift, but a few," Robert Krizanec, the group's president, told CBC News. 

Expanding nationally 

The organization has grown from delivering toys to a couple of hundred children a year, to now over 5,000. Their work would service areas such as the GTA and Southwestern Ontario. 

Krizanec says the charity's biggest and most ambitious delivery to date will be in the Northwest Territories.

"We received a request to support a service agency up in Aklavik, It's about 4,300 kilometres away from London, we're trying to expand and go national this year."

For Krizanec and his team, he said getting the delivery together was challenging, but a no-brainer. "I never dreamed that somebody would find us or look at our web page from that far away, but they did."

Volunteers have been working up to 16-hour days to make sure children get their gifts, they have also been getting support from the London community. 

"We will work to the very last minute to ensure that every single child on our list, receives a toy hamper," he said. 

'It brings me joy and fills my cup'

Sam Wyllie has been a volunteer with the group for about eight years. This year alone, he's packed over 400 gifts. 

"I love what I do, it brings me joy and fills my cup and at the end of the day, we are just trying to reach our goal of helping those in need in our community," he said.

"We always try to be as generous as possible with the amount of support we gain from the community and it would not be possible without everybody pitching in their efforts towards our successful campaign."

The charity is still in need of items for infants and girls ages 3-7 and boys ages 12-14. 

"We just hope that Londoners are thinking of us, when you think about the need we have with the 5,000 hampers, this will go very quickly, all donations are welcome," said Krizanec.

Anyone looking to make a donation can go to a Canadian Tire drop-box or visit their website.