by Linda Straker
- Charlyn Asher of Windsor Forest undertaking toy drive
- Toys will be distributed through Galine Andrews and Samantha Antoine
Hundreds of children between the ages 1 and 12 will be receiving a toy for Christmas 2020, through a toy drive undertaken by a Canadian shipping and packaging company whose president is a Grenadian.
The project is being undertaken by Charlyn Asher who was born in Windsor Forest, St David and moved to Canada at the age of 18 years. She worked her way up the ladder in Toronto and is now the president of Colt Paper and Antoine Fulfilment.
Always supportive to her community, in 2016 she raised Canadian $2,500 to help the St George’s Anglican Junior School purchase their own photocopier-printer. That same year she donated money for a trophy to her past high school, St David’s Catholic Secondary.
She visited Grenada in February 2020 and on her return to Canada, Asher decided to launch a Colt Christmas Wish Toy Drive. The initiative is to collect toys for 500 boys and girls in the Windsor Forest and surrounding area. “Seeing the children and knowing the life she left behind, she will not and cannot turn a blind eye to her country’s needs. A little goes a long way. She’s using her voice and network to make this initiative a success,” said a spokesperson from her company.
In August, the team at Colt Paper filmed a video to promote the toy drive which is being run from 20 August – 30 October 2020. “We have had donations from the USA and as far as Turkey. To date we have collected 350 new unwrapped toys. However, more needs to be done to get to our goal. We do have an Amazon Wish list account to make it an easy donation without having to physically having to drop off at our location. This wish list is https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/1JPRX3PPTM9LS
All the toys collected will go to a deserving child. The toy shipment is scheduled to leave Toronto the first week in November for delivery and distribution in Grenada prior to Christmas. The children must be registered in advance to be a recipient of the Toy Drive.
The toys will be distributed through teacher Galine Andrews at the Windsor Forest Pre-primary School with help from Samantha Antoine, Charlyn Asher’s sister.
NOW Grenada is not responsible for the opinions, statements or media content presented by contributors. In case of abuse, click here to report.
Well said….
Agree. Toys are to mash up and is temporarily.
We grow up without receiving toys. Our aunts and uncles would give us $10 or $20 and we were so happy we have our own spending money. We will go to town and buy a doll, pop gun, apples, eat food, go to the movies etc.
Kids dont need to be spoiled trying to look at other countries what kids have to make feel deprived. The kids may feel sad and lead to I want this and that which may cause problems for them growing up.
Parents need to teach kids the value of things., teaching them about life, teaching them how to respect others and their parents. To be happy with what they have, dont look at others what they have and giving them positive connotations.
We are not learning at all. What is this going to for us and our children? We don’t need toys; we need common sense.