CapeCodOnline.com – Ethan Genter – Sirens blared and lights flashed as dozens of police cruisers and fire engines from across the Cape pulled into the Festival Plaza on Sunday afternoon.
But instead of fighting fires or criminals, the officers and firefighters were unloading collected toys for the 19th annual Toys for Tots “Stuff-A-Bus” toy drive.
Organizer Mary Ellen Harrington had hoped the collection would beat last year’s toy total of 23,466. And as of last night her hopes were realized, with a new record of 31,844 toys collected – 16,069 of which came from Cape public safety departments, according to organizers.
31,844 toys, and every single one of them stays on Cape Cod. That is just about enough to give a toy to every single kid on this peninsula that is under the age of 18. Incredible. When you consider that nowhere near all of those kids are actually in need, this pretty much means that as long as these toys are distributed well, not one child on Cape Cod will go without multiple presents this Christmas. That is pretty friggin’ cool.
Seeing such remarkable achievements as a result of the community working together makes me wonder how we ever let anything divide us. Politics divide us, drugs divide us, economics divide us, fun police divide us, the environment divides us, but look what happens when we come together instead of splintering apart. Amazing things happen. There is an incredible amount of power in people when they work together. Maybe we should try to remember that for more than one month a year and stop suing each other over every decision the majority makes just because we don’t like it.
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