There's always been an annual toy drive and Queenie's, and always will be
Port Hope
Queenie's Bake Shop owner Adam Pearson has always seen the holidays as a time to give, and over the years he's amped that up significantly by matching whatever a supportive community donates.
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.
