Some children in the area served by will be a guaranteed a brighter Christmas thanks to a generous donation by the Windsor-Essex County Real Estate Board.
Christmas was in jeopardy for many local needy children thanks to heartless thieves who stole between 80 and 100 bags of toys for the Salvation Army on November 29. Businesses and residents had donated some of the toys, while the Salvation Army purchased others with money from its annual kettle campaign.
On November 30, the Windsor-Essex County Real Estate Board donated $3,000 to the Salvation Army to help ease the burden of the theft. “We as REALTORS® have been very fortunate for so many years, and we felt we were an organization that could withstand the task of give this back,” said Board President Joe Montaleone.
The stolen toys were stored in two donated tractor-trailers, and worth more than $5,000 .The thieves climbed over some of the bags they weren’t interested in to get to those they wanted.
Salvation Army Maj. Wilfred Harbin noted that there were no electronics in the trailer, and that the organization is mystified by the theft. Included in the items stolen were 22 Mexx watches, which are popular with young teenagers.
There are still 1,500 bags of toys in the trailers, and the WECREB donation will help to replace many of the stolen items. It’s too soon to anticipate the demand for this holiday season as applications for toys are still being accepted. The Salvation Army expects the need will be great this year, and is still trying to grapple with the situation.
