Ontario police and store replace stolen Christmas toy drive presents

EXETER, Ont. — Police officers and a Canadian Tire store have united to replace gifts a southern Ontario woman bought for needy children after the presents were stolen from her car.

Ontario Provincial Police say the woman had built up a collection of colouring books, craft supplies, board games and toys — all destined for a church Christmas toy drive in the Exeter, Ont., area.

They say the woman went into a Canadian Tire store in Exeter last Friday to get some batteries for the toys and when she returned to her car all of the gifts were gone.

Officers have been unable to identify and apprehend the thief, but say they didn’t want this woman’s act of kindness to go unnoticed, so they each chipped in some money to purchase some replacement toys.

Police say the Canadian Tire store matched and even exceeded the officers’ donation and collectively they were able to come up with a sizable sack of toys for the woman.

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They say the officers met with the unsuspecting woman at the store on Thursday and she was left “nearly speechless.”

“It just felt like the right thing to do,” said Const. Jason Richardson.

“She was trying to do something great at this time of the year, and we didn’t want someone to take that away from her.”

The Canadian Press