Fewer residents parking illegally means fewer toys for families in need in St. Albert, but those drivers ticketed did provide a lot of toys.
St. Albert’s Toys for Tickets campaign wrapped up on Dec. 7. The city sent out the final tallies for toys collected on Tuesday.
In total, municipal enforcement and RCMP officers gave out 93 tickets from Nov. 15 to Dec. 7. In almost every case, the person ticketed paid with a toy using the early payment option on the ticket. That means the city collected a total of 95 toys worth a total of $2,375.
“It went pretty good, all things considered,” said Garnet Melnyk, senior officer with municipal enforcement services.
Melnyk said that this year, the program’s fourth, the city received a toy from one individual who didn’t even get a parking ticket, and another individual both paid the ticket and donated a toy.
Tickets could only be paid with toys if they were issued between Nov. 15 and Dec. 7 and if the person paid before the early payment deadline on the ticket. The toy had to be brand new and accompanied by a receipt, as well as having a value of at least $25.
Melnyk said that, for the most part, those who paid with toys bought gifts worth more than $25.
“For the most part I would have to say they are well over $30 because every morning we’d come in and just say, ‘Look at that,’” Melnyk said. “It was almost like Christmas shopping. Some of them looked to be not of the cheap variety.”
The value of toys donated is down for a second year. After bringing in $4,200 in toys in 2010, the toys collected equalled only $2,800. But the percentage of people that paid with toys increased – 72 per cent of ticketed drivers paid with a toy in 2010, 51 per cent in 2011 and almost 100 per cent this year.
Melnyk said the value is likely down because people are not parking illegally as often, so fewer tickets are being issued. Weather might also be a factor.
“We got an exorbitant amount of snow that we don’t usually get, and because of that people were not going out in the storm,” he said.
All of the toys were donated to the Fill-A-Bus campaign to support the Kinettes’ hamper drive.
