A charity toy drive has led to approximately 500 toys being donated for children in care of Batshaw Youth and Family Services of Montreal.
On December 3, twenty MSC Canada employee volunteers turned out to conduct MSC’s inaugural seasonal toy drive at Montreal’s Place Vertu shopping mall, filling a 20-foot shipping container with new toys that could be given to children in foster care and group homes in Montreal throughout the holiday season.
MSC had invited staff, business partners, and the local community to join it in donating toys, and giving back to children who might otherwise not receive anything from Santa. As a “Thank you” for donating, Santa was on hand, to be photographed with the children. Coffee and hot chocolate were being served, donated by Union Coffee.
To make sure that no child in Batshaw’s care would go without a gift, MSC made an additional contribution, and presented Batshaw representatives with a cheque for $10,000 to enable the organization to purchase additional gifts. “A big “Thank you” goes out to all MSC staff, clients and business partners who joined us on Saurday and were incredibly generous with their donations,” said Sokat Shaikh, President and CEO of MSC Canada. “I am extremely proud of the team’s commitment to the community, and will continue to look for other opportunities to move help where it’s needed.”
Batshaw Youth and Family Centres have collected and delivered toys to children in foster care and group homes in Montreal for over 30 years. In 2015 it was able to give toys to approximately 1,000 children – in 2016 it hoped to deliver toys to approximately 1,400 children.