Graham Peterson, (Left) presents a cheque to Lori Galbraith, and Pamela Stranger of the Salvation Army, as well as Dave Markling of Santa Anonymous, and Vince Parker from the P.A. Optimist Club Friday afternoon at the fire hall. (Dawson Thompson/paNOW Staff)

By Dawson Thompson

Community Christmas donation

Prince Albert Firefighters Charity makes donation to Santa Anonymous

Dec 12, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The Prince Albert Firefighters Charity made a donation to Santa Anonymous at the fire hall, Friday afternoon.

The Firefighters Charity regularly hosts a toy drive for Santa Anonymous at a Prince Albert Raiders game but was unable to this season due to the WHL season not starting yet.

This year, the charity is donating $1,500 to go directly to the purchasing of Christmas gifts for children in the city.

According to the chair of the Santa Anonymous program Dave Markling, the monetary donation will work just as well.

“Having this donation from the firefighters is extremely helpful, it will help out a lot of kids,” Markling said. “In previous years they have always been very generous and have donated a lot of toys at Raider nights. The charity is still coming through with a monetary donation so we can get what is needed for those who need it the most.”

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Markling added there are more children in need in Prince Albert than ever before.

“The support has been good so far, I’m quite happy,” Markling said. “We can always use more. This year, the need is extremely high. There are a lot more kids in need this year, I believe we have over 1000 kids who are in need of gifts this year, which is to be expected.

“We’re usually in need of gifts for older children, and the very young children as well.”

President of the Prince Albert Fire Department Fire Fighters Charity, Graham Peterson said it is important for them to continue to give back to the community.

“We’ve been donating to Santa Anonymous for many years, this year is a bit different with COVID, but we wanted to donate again of course,” Peterson said.

Peterson explained they are a non-profit charity that does fundraisers throughout the year. All donations they make go back to local organizations in Prince Albert.

Santa Anonymous is an annual toy drive in Prince Albert that has been collecting toys for children every year since 1961. Every donation goes toward the Salvation Army Christmas hampers.

Depots for donations are located at the South Hill Mall, Gateway Mall, Canadian Tire, Walmart, Winners, City Hall, and the Art Hauser Centre.

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Dawson.thompson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: dawsonthompson8