This year's KeianB次元官网网址檚 Holiday Wish toy drive was a great success, according to members of the RCMP's Surrey Provincial Police Support Unit, who help plan the annual drive.
The campaign continues the legacy of giving of Keian Blundell, a six-year-old boy who played "Santa" at the Vancouver hospital where he was sick with cancer more than a decade ago. Sadly, Keian lost his battle with leukemia in 2014.
This month, with the help of Keian's family in Surrey, local RCMP members helped collect 1,200 toys and donations for delivery to BC ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital and Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Across B.C., the toys will be distributed to families of children impacted by medical challenges, "easing the burden on parents in difficult times and bringing joy to the faces of kids," says , chief superintendent of the RCMPB次元官网网址檚 Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit.
We thank our community for their generosity and support to keep this toy drive going,
Mehat added in posted Tuesday, Dec. 24.
This was the 13th annual KeianB次元官网网址檚 Holiday Wish Toy Drive, which kicked off Nov. 5. Donations were collected until Dec. 13 at locations in Surrey and Langley, also online in an .
Months before his passing on New Year's Day 2014, Keian was made an honorary RCMP member, and Mounties have continued to help collect toys in his memory.
Previously in Langley, parents Ryan and Chantal Blundell now live in Surrey.
In November, .
"Back in 2012 when Keian was first diagnosed, we weren't sure if we're going to be home for Christmas, and that was his absolute favourite time of the year," he told Black Press Media.
"Thankfully, we were discharged just a few days before (Christmas), so we were able to have a somewhat-normal Christmas at home. But of course he (Keian) felt bad for all the other kids that were on the ward, still in hospital.
"So what he ended up doing was, with some friends he was able to collect 12 toys, and so he went around the ward with a little wagon, hand-delivering toys to the kids that he got to know during his time there."
This year's Holiday Wish haul adds 1,200 toys to the 11,500 donated since 2017, plus more than $40,000 in cash, which is used to buy additional toys.
