The inaugural Cloverdale Toy Drive was a great success, according to Scott Wheatley.
Wheatley said they collected more than 200 toys and raised more than $1,000 for the Cloverdale Christmas Hamper program.
“Overall, we are pretty happy with the way it went,” said Wheatley, the executive director for the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber partnered with Elements Casino and Pulse 107.7 FM to sponsor the drive.
Wheatley said they would have liked to have raised more, but for an inaugural event, he was more than satisfied with the result.
“We are definitely going to do it next year,” he added. “The vast majority of people didn’t know about it, so we’ll look at ways to get the word out next year.”
Wheatley said he and Cheryl White, the Chamber’s special events coordinator, set up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of Elements Casino, but noted the majority of people came by between 12 and 2 p.m.
Along with hundreds of toys, Wheatley and White collected $260 in donations Dec. 8. This was added to $760 raised in a table auction initiative Dec. 10, as part of the Chamber’s monthly business luncheon, and more than $1,000 was presented to the Christmas hamper program.
“This holiday season we wanted to give our valued members and our neighbours an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children in Cloverdale—the community where we live, work, and play,” said Wheatley.
Wheatley said when the Chamber was tossing around ideas about what sort of events they could do to help the less fortunate, they came up with the idea of a toy drive and they knew they wanted to bring in Elements.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Elements Casino,” he said. “(We) know how much they support and give back to our community. It made sense to partner together to make sure every child in Cloverdale has a toy this Christmas.”
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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