Oakville's Front Line Outreach, a community based volunteer program, held their twelfth annual Christmas toy distribution this week. Distributing toys to nearly 100 families, hundreds of children will receive toys on Christmas this year thanks to generous donations from local Oakvilleans, businesses and dozens of volunteers.
Front Line Outreach describes their mission as "reaching into the social housing communities of Oakville and beyond to help people in low income break free from poverty.”
Outside of the Christmas season, the group also runs a food distribution for five communities on weekly basis. They also run a summertime day camp program called "Camp Dakota" for hundreds of kids across all Halton communities - and three more locations in Toronto.
But they've also run a Christmas toy drive since 2009, partnering with volunteers from the Oakville Fire Department. (If you attended the Fire Department's special toy drive-through event at Coronation park two weeks ago, it's likely your donations ended up here!)
Ron and Joyce Shantz, CEOs of Front Line Outreach, were on site Thursday, December 17th to assist volunteers who set up, cleaned, and aided "shoppers" who came to choose toys for the families. Seeing the tables of toys, it's an intricate and detailed operation to make sure every child gets exactly the right gift(s) for Christmas.
“The reason we do this is easy," says Ron. "It's because people don’t have toys for children. So we help out." That demand, he also says, is higher this year especially due to a certain pandemic.
"Last year we had a mum who sent a letter to say thank you," says Joyce, recounting the story. "She was on maternity leave, and had no gifts for her children. After she left with a bag of toys she wrote to us, saying she sat in her car just crying she was just so thankful. That letter was really special."
But Ron and Joyce both know the real work is done by their small group of dedicated volunteers, who worked for eleven hours straight this past Thursday to run the toy distribution - and another few hours of set up that happened the day before.
One of those volunteers is Vic Linka, pictured below. He himself is a retired Toronto fire captain who worked there for 31 years and now lives in Oakville. When he dropped off the toys, he was so moved that he came back later that day to volunteer for a distribution shift.
“Meeting the firefighters this morning (Thursday), we helped unload the toys," says Linka. "I’m a retired firefighter, but it’s a brotherhood. When you start talking to your fellow brothers, it hits home. They told me about the cause and I came back because my heart told me to.”
In addition to the toy drive, Front Line Outreach is also making 120 fresh dinners to be delivered on Christmas Eve to seniors or those isolated this season. They hope to make these deliveries regularly in January, ramping up to making 80 meals/week. Another project for 2021 involves setting up a new Halton help line.
Thanks to everyone who donated toys this year and a special thank you goes to all the volunteers who worked hard this month to make this possible.
More can be learned about Front Line Outreach on their website and also on Facebook. You can also learn about ways to donate and volunteer online.
