NOTL Hydro collecting toys, food for Newark Neighbours at Christmas Parade

Staff at Niagara-on-the-Lake Hydro have first-hand experience when it comes to seeing residents deal with financial difficulties.

That’s one of the reasons the utility company is continuing with its 20-year tradition during Saturday’s Christmas Parade — collecting toys and food along the route for Newark Neighbours, says Jody Keus, a customer accounts representative who has been a lead organizer of the effort since it started.

The hydro company has also been gathering items at its headquarters in Virgil since last month for the local charity.  

“We see the struggling throughout the year just with payments of hydro bills — let alone people having to get groceries or necessities for their family,” said Keus.

Representatives from Newark Neighbours, who she met with earlier that day, told her they are “short on everything,” she said, and that there isn’t one or two specific food items needed the most.

Starting in October, NOTL Hydro reminds its customers about the annual Christmas initiative by placing flyers in monthly bills about the food and toy drive.

“We’ve had some great years and we’ve had some years that aren’t so great,” she said.

So far, “a lot of toys” have been collected for the cause, and there has been “some food but not as much as in the past,” Keus told The Local,
adding that toys can be geared for infants to teenagers.

The parade also includes the popular Burlington Teen Tour Band with their 130 members marching behind their majorettes and band leaders.

Other bands include Top Hats, Ridley Cadet Corps, York Lions, Niagara Militaires, Lincoln and Welland Regiment Band and A.N. Myer Marching Band.

St. Michael Catholic Elementary School students will be following their winning snow plow entry from a regional contest, with their own school float.

Niagara College, Brock University, Royal Oak Community School, Crossroads and St. Davids Elementary Schools, will all bring their enthusiastic school spirit to the parade, and local sports groups will be well represented by Thunderhawks Lacrosse players, Wolves Minor Hockey, and the NOTL Skating Club.

Expect both horses and dogs strutting their finery, and the NOTL Fire Services and other volunteer fire associations will be blaring their horns with both new and antique trucks.

Saturday’s parade starts at 11 a.m. at the intersection of King and Centre Streets and travels throughout its traditional route down Castlereagh, Wellington, Byron/Prideaux, Simcoe and Queen Streets.