Video – Queenies Bake Shop Toy Drive Reaches Record

In Local

By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
For as long as there’s been a Queenies Bake Shop in downtown Port Hope, there’s been an annual Queenie’s Toy Drive.

Owner Adam Pearson (also a Port Hope councillor) opened Queenies on July 23, 2012. The first Queenies Toy Drive was later that year.

“Basically at that time I saw a need for it in the community,” he said during a telephone interview on the last official day of this year’s collection.

Pearson has always been keenly attuned to this kind of need, with parents who made supporting the Northumberland Mall Giving Tree a family Christmas priority. As Christmas 2012 approached, he launched that first toy drive, and passed it all along to the Giving Tree.

After the first few Toy Drives, Pearson amped it up by announcing that he would be matching whatever was given. That’s when he discovered how generous the community’s merchants are.

“I can go into Home Hardware and get a good discount,” he said.

“Today I went to Trudy’s [Trudy’s Source for Sports, formerly Sommerville’s Sporting Goods], and Trudy was just as kind, if not kinder, and made sure she gave me a good discount,” he added, mentioning 20 pairs of hockey skates as part of his shopping list.

“That’s the great thing about this community we have – we all work together on things.”

As long as there’s a Queenies, he said, the Toy Drive will go on.

The toys went to the Giving Tree every year, until 2020 when the pandemic cancelled the Giving Tree.

He knew of the work of the Children’s Aid Society, so he contacted the Highland Shores CAS to see if they could manage the distribution.

“They’ve been amazing to work with,” he said.

Every year, he makes a rough count of the toys. And no matter how many he thinks he might have, it’s always more than that.

In 2012, he owned a hatchback car. He was able to load all the toys collected into the back.

The second year, the hatchback accommodated everything as long as he folded down the back seat.

Last Friday, the Highland Shores CAS sent him a photo of the van they planned to send for the toys, just to see if it was big enough. On Friday, he said, it might have been – now he’s not so sure.

Asked about exact number of toys collected this year, he said, “I ran out of fingers,” but agreed that “just under 2,000 toys” would be a fair estimate.

Cecilia Nasmith
Author: Cecilia Nasmith

Join Our Newsletter!

Want to keep up to date on news and events in Northumberland? Subscribe to newsletter!

You may also read!

OFL Commemorates First Official Injured Workers’ Day and Demands Recognition Be Met with Justice

One year after celebrating the successful second reading of the Injured Workers’ Day Bill, the Ontario Federation of Labour

Read More...

Canadian Soldier of the First World War Identified

(Today's Northumberland file photo) The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have identified a previously

Read More...

Peterborough Police Service – Incidents Include, Assault, Impaired, MVC, Weapons Arrest (No Names Released)

Calls for Service: (May 30 at 8:00am – May 31 at 8:00am) 129 (May 31 at 8:00am – June 1 at

Read More...

Mobile Sliding Menu