Salvation Army facing donation shortfall as Toy Mountain campaign continues

The Toy Mountain campaign is still on, but The Salvation Army couldn’t wait another week to pick up donations. CTV’s Krista Simpson explains why.

There’s still more than a week left until CTV Kitchener’s big 2025 Toy Mountain finale, when toys would normally be handed over to the Salvation Army, but organizers picked some of them up early amid a donation shortage.

Even though the campaign is still in full swing, the Salvation Army has already begun distributing donations to families in need. Typically, they also have a stockpile of toys set aside, but this year, they had to take the unusual step of dipping into recent donations a bit earlier.

“We have found ourselves in a place where we were short on toys and are needing toys to continue in our distribution,” explained Salvation Army Captain Kelly Fifield.

On Tuesday, Salvation Army representatives stopped by the CTV News Kitchener studio and filled several boxes with much-needed toys to bring back to their distribution centre.

“We have had to come down and use some of the toys from Toy Mountain this year to take them back to restock our shelves,” Fifield said.

In years past, many of the toys gathered during the Toy Mountain campaign arrived at the Salvation Army after the distribution period had ended. Those toys were crucial to kick off next year’s campaign and ensured families stopping by at the beginning of the distribution period had a selection to choose from.

“We run a shopping model,” Fifield explained. “We want parents to be able to have the opportunity to come in and pick out a toy for their child that they know that they’re going to want this Christmas. In order to do that, we have to have some options there.” The Salvation Army hoped to provide gifts for up to 5,000 children and teens this year.

“Having to take [the Toy Mountain donations] was a big call for us, because it means that could put us in a place of a shortage for next year,” Fifield said. “That’s kind of how we ended up where we are – at the end of last year, we found ourselves in the same boat and we did what we could. We did end up having to take a few that we would normally try to keep just to get through the season.”

The organization is appealing to the community to continue donating new, unwrapped toys before the 2025 campaign ends.

“We want to say thank you to those that have already done that this year, and we want to encourage you, if you haven’t, if you have the ability to pick up something, please do as we are in need,” Fifield said.

“There’s still lots of time.”

While all donations are appreciated, she noted more gifts were needed for babies and toddlers up to the age to three, as well as nine to twelve-year-olds.

Details on drop-off locations or how to make a monetary contribution can be found here: CTV News Kitchener - Toy Mountain