{"id":3191,"date":"2022-12-22T20:00:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T20:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salvationarmy.ca\/britishcolumbia\/uncle-vinnys-toy-drive-donates-over-1500-toys\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T11:23:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T11:23:45","slug":"uncle-vinnys-toy-drive-donates-over-1500-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salvationarmy.ca\/britishcolumbia\/2022\/12\/22\/uncle-vinnys-toy-drive-donates-over-1500-toys\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Vinny\u2019s Toy Drive Donates Over 1,500 Toys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three years ago, the Maan family lost Vinny during the holiday season. He was a caring son, brother, and a loving uncle to his nieces and nephews. \u201cHe would do anything to make the kids happy,\u201d says his sister Pinder. Vinny was known for his love of the Christmas season and enjoyed giving gifts and playing with the kids. \u201cWe really look forward to the holidays as a family \u2026 the gatherings, cheer, the lights,\u201d but that year things were different says Pinder.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cWe were sitting around, feeling sorry for ourselves, in a dark, dark place. He would have hated for us to be like that.\u201d <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The family decided they wanted to do something to honour him, to continue his legacy of gift giving, and help other families in need. In 2021 they launched Uncle Vinny\u2019s Toy Drive and started to collect gifts around the community while family in Ontario took on the same initiative there. The initial goal was to collect 100 toys, possibly even 200, but to their delight the campaign took off. \u201cNever did I think that we would hit over 1,600 and nearly 3,400 between BC and Ontario last year,\u201d Pinder recalls. Toys collected in the Lower Mainland went to <a href=\"https:\/\/salvationarmyvancouver.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Salvation Army Boundless Vancouver<\/a> Toy Shop, a place where families who otherwise would not be able to afford presents are gifted the dignity to select toys based on their children\u2019s interest right off the shelves.<\/p>\n\n<p>This year The Salvation Army returned to the Maan family home in Surrey to pick up another generous donation of 1,580 toys that were collected in wrapped donation bins placed in local businesses. \u201cThis year we actually had people reaching out to us saying they want to be part of this,\u201d says Pinder, noting that she is preparing to pick up some late donations to add to the total. Vinny\u2019s father also worked to create toques that were sold for a minimum donation of $15, allowing the family to then use that money raised to buy additional toys.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>\u201cWe were looking for an organization where we know the most will go back to the community, and we know The Salvation Army is known for that.\u201d <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The family\u2019s favourite part of the toy drive is the joy that it creates, \u201cseeing all the toys around that tree and knowing how many kids we\u2019re able to impact, that\u2019s a huge thing for all of us just to know how many families we will touch.\u201d The family also enjoys using this toy drive as a reason to get together, especially around the anniversary of Vinny\u2019s passing. Everyone is so excited to see how many toys they\u2019re able to collect, \u201cwhat a better way to honour him, especially over the holidays,\u201d says Pinder.<\/p>\n<p>After two great years the family plans to continue this new Christmas tradition, \u201cwe want to carry on his legacy for giving, carrying, and sharing \u2026 we\u2019re working hard to make him proud, I\u2019m sure he\u2019s up there, smiling down and saying, \u2018that\u2019s because of me!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Donations for the Toy Shop are also being collected at the Toys\u201cR\u201dUs Broadway location in Vancouver till December 23rd. Those who would still like to make a donation directly to The Salvation Army this Christmas season can drop off cash, cheque or tap their credit card at our Christmas Kettles, or visit <a href=\"https:\/\/salvationarmy.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">salvationarmy.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three years ago, the Maan family lost Vinny during the holiday season. He was a caring son, brother, and a loving uncle to his nieces and nephews. \u201cHe would do anything to make the kids happy,\u201d says his sister Pinder. Vinny was known for his love of the Christmas season and enjoyed giving gifts and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17,14,70,16],"tags":[],"location":[],"class_list":["post-3191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-us","category-featured","category-health-and-social-services","category-hope-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Uncle Vinny\u2019s Toy Drive Donates Over 1,500 Toys - British Columbia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/salvationarmy.ca\/britishcolumbia\/2022\/12\/22\/uncle-vinnys-toy-drive-donates-over-1500-toys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uncle Vinny\u2019s Toy Drive Donates Over 1,500 Toys - British Columbia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Three years ago, the Maan family lost Vinny during the holiday season. 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