The Weyburn Fire Brigade spent a good part of Saturday outside of Weyburn's Canadian Tire store filling the fire truck with toy donations for the Family Place.

Brigade Captain Kevin Cooke said there was a special allure bringing people out with their children as well. Old Saint Nick made an appearance in the store for photo opportunities.

"They set up the the display for Santa Claus, and it was amazing. Tip of the hat to Daphne I think was one of their employees that did that. I was pretty impressed. It looked very good, and there were lots of comments on it, too, like all kinds of people were commenting on how good it looked." 

People would buy toys at the Canadian Tire store and then donate them, but in addition, the Canadian Tire staff donated $500 worth of toys. The Weyburn Fire Brigade donated another $200 worth of toys. The 737 Fire Department also donated $1,000, and other monetary donations totaled $185. 

"The families and the citizens of Weyburn come through, like, immensely," said Cooke. "It's just absolutely incredible, Canadian Tire was good enough to allow us to do this event again. It was very easy sell, like it always is, so can't thank the citizens of Weyburn enough."

The toys were delivered yesterday to the Family Place.

"For many families, Christmas is tough," said Executive Director with the Family Place, Dawn Gutzke. "It's a tough time a year and to spend all that extra money on brand new items. So this is truly a gift and a miracle to some families to get all this brand new stuff." 

"And it's nice because we can reach out to other agencies as well in the Community and share," she explained. "We can phone the schools and share if they have any families too. So it really does reach the whole community. It has a huge impact on everyone." 

"I wish I could tell you the big difference it's going to make to these families this Christmas. It's just such a wonderful program. Thank you to all involved. The fire Department for spending the day there stuffing the fire truck. Amazing, the Canadian Tire. A huge shout out to the whole community." 

Gutzke invited anyone who wants to help out another family or needs help for themselves should not hesitate to contact them at 306-842-7477.

"We'd love to help out. We don't want anyone missed for Christmas."