AMHERST, N.S. — Children across Cumberland County will once again benefit from the customers and staff at Amherst Toyota.
As owners of Amherst Toyota, Glenn and Traci Roberts have long believed in giving back to the community. They have done that in a variety of ways, especially at Christmas when the dealership and its community partners and customers come together to collect toys for the Christmas for Kids program.
The Amherst Toyota Toy Drive is underway for a 10th year.
“We have always believed strongly in being able to give back to the community we’re doing business in and this was a great opportunity when we started because there was a huge shortage of toys,” owner and dealer principle Glenn Roberts said.
Soon after acquiring the dealership, Roberts said he looked for ways to give something back to the community. At first, they distributed gear to minor hockey players and participated in various food drives. It was the toy drive, however, that has taken root and continued to grow every year over the past nine years.
“We’re really starting to get some good community involvement in the toy drive and it really shows how much people in the Amherst area care about their community and their children,” Roberts said. “Every year we think we can’t do better and we do a bit better. It’s always something we look forward to at this time of year because it raises people’s spirits and goes to show what kind of community we all live in.”
This year, the program had the support of other corporate partners such as Giant Tiger, Walmart and Amherst Pharmasave that allowed the toy drive to collect toys their locations while the Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers also supported the program collecting toys at a recent junior hockey game.
Toys were collected at the Moonlight Madness in Sackville, N.B. recently as well as at the Amherst Christmas parade and Springhill’s parade. Customers and community members can also bring toys to the dealership on Lord Amherst Drive.
Last year, Barbara Baxter of the Amherst Lions Club said the toy drive is a huge contributor to the Christmas for Kids campaign, adding the toys help make a difference.
