The Ponoka RCMP is holding their first-ever “Stuff a Cruiser” event on Dec. 10.
Members will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Ponoka Food Bank as well as unwrapped toys for Ponoka Secondary Campus’ (PSC) Santa’s Anonymous campaign in the No Frills parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“As far as I am aware, this is the first year Ponoka RCMP has held this event,” said acting detachment commander Sgt. Erin St-Cyr. “I can also tell you that we are looking forward to it very much.”
The credit for the initiative belongs to Ponoka RCMP member to Cpl. Phil Fortin.
“He participated in RCMP Stuff the Cruiser campaigns when he was posted up north,” said St-Cyr. “He brought the idea forward to all of us and explained how well it was received. Quite frankly, he got all of us very excited about how we could bring this event to our own community.
“We absolutely want to do our part to contribute towards the efforts of Ponoka’s Food Bank and PSC’s Santa’s Anonymous campaign to support families from our community in need, particularly during this time of year.”
The detachment will accept any and all unwrapped toys of gifts on behalf of PSC.
“Pre-teens and teenagers also look forward to age appropriate gifts which can sometimes be in short supply for their age bracket. For this reason, gifts that would be suitable for ages 10 to 17 would absolutely be very well received.”
Some suggestions for appropriate gifts are small valued gift cards, personal hygiene or bath products (such as body sprays or body wash), candles, nail polish, headphones or ear buds and miscellaneous clothing items.
The RCMP Safety Bear will be joining members for the event to help hand out colouring books and temporary tattoos for children.