It takes a village to fill a trailer full of food and toys for Christmas.
Hundreds of brown grocery bags filled a dozen shopping carts in preparation for the South Simcoe Police's Fill a Trailer event at Sobeys in Alcona on Sunday.
“Every cash (register) had piles of them at 7 a.m. this morning,” said cashier Lita Hardacre, 20, shortly before 1 p.m.
"They appear to be all gone."
Gone, but not far.
Outside a half-full tractor trailer held the bags, as well as donated bags of toys to give to the Family Connexions' Toy Mountain event.
For the past 17 years, Innisfil’s South Simcoe Police and Alcona’s Sobeys have partnered to collect items for the needy at Christmas.
Sgt. Steve Black said police have also partnered with the Canadian Tires in both Innisfil and Bradford to collect, food, cash, gift cards and a large amount of toys each year.
In addition to collections, auxiliary officers Jim Krueger, Serge Singh, Bill Davidson and Dave Cockburn were selling canine plush toys resembling Nitro, SSP's police dog, for $20.
“All proceeds go to local charities,” said Black.
Looking at the busy trailer midway through the day, Black said he was thrilled to see such a strong community response.
“We had a line-up here by 10 a.m. this morning when we arrived. It’s going really well,” he said.
