Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KSACC

Local toy store helping ‘Trim the Toyroom’ for Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre

Dec 2, 2020 | 5:01 PM

KAMLOOPS — This December, Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre has partnered with Tumbleweed Toys to help Trim the Toyroom. The campaign is meant to help fill the therapeutic playroom at KSACC and provide children who have experienced sexual abuse with new toys that are also used for therapy.

Christmas should be a magical time of year, especially for children. That’s why the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre has partnered with Tumbleweed Toys this December.

“KSACC supports children who have experienced sexual abuse,” Agency Coordinator Alix Dolson explains. “One of the ways we do that is through play therapy. In a therapeutic playroom, toys become more than just toys. They become a tool for healing.”

Dolson says play therapy is an effective way for kids who have experienced sexual abuse to process that trauma. “The children’s counsellors at KSACC are trained in play therapy,” Dolson says. “They’re able to use these items alongside the children, just to help them process some of that trauma.”

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Through the ‘Trim the Toyroom’ Campaign, shoppers at Tumbleweed Toys can purchase something off of KSACC’s list to help stock the playroom.

“Alix contacted me and asked if we’d be interested in this initiative and I just thought it was a great fit,” store owner Vanessa Gammel explains.

Gammel saw this as an opportunity to help children in the community during a difficult year. “It’s Christmas and it’s 2020. Everybody is struggling,” Gammel says. “People are looking for ways to support the local Kamloops community.”

With tighter restrictions around COVID-19 these days, Dolson understands if people are hesitant to go out shopping.

“They’re also able to contact the [KSACC] office and we can work something up so they can pick something off the toy list and send in a donation that way,” Dolson says. “You’re still going to be able to make sure that item gets to children, whether or not you can make it into the store.”

KSACC’s ‘Trim the Toyroom’ campaign is a great reminder that helping others is the best way to make sure the holiday season is merry and bright.