The City’s Fire and Rescue Service joined hundreds of bikers for the 42nd Toy Run Cape Town, the annual charity drive that collects toys for children in foster homes, orphanages and places of safety.
As many as 16 000 toys, including plush toys, toy cars and dolls were donated for the drive, which culminated in an event at Killarney International Raceway yesterday.
The City’s firefighters were overwhelmed by the support shown by communities, and have committed to exploring additional options to sustain such collection drives throughout the coming year, utilising Fire Stations as accessible drop-off facilities.
‘Our firefighters heeded the call and so we opened all of our fire stations this past week and asked our residents to have their children consider donating some of their old toys. And the generosity was heart-warming. We loaded everything into one of our fire engines and along with a group of our firefighters, we escorted it with the procession into Killarney. Cape Town came out in numbers and while the organisers will spend the next two weeks sorting, packing and coordinating the toys to the various recipients, they are confident we have exceeded the ultimate goal which seemed so impossible at first,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.
Caption 1:
Front row left to right: Station Commanders Siyabulela Tafeni and Morne Haskell. Back row left to right: Station Commander Joel Constable, Station Commander Obakeng Makwene, Chief Fire Officer Clinton Manuel , Alderman JP Smith, Platoon Commander Nathan de Kock and Councillor Mzwakhe Nqavashe( Chairperson, Safety and Security Portfolio Committee)