City of Hamilton and United Way Halton & Hamilton launch Toys for Tickets, enabling residents to pay parking fines through toy donations
From Dec. 2 to 6, 2024, Hamilton residents have the chance to transform their parking fines into holiday cheer through the Toys for Tickets pilot program. During this period, individuals who have been issued parking tickets can pay their fines by donating a new, unwrapped toy of equal or greater value than their ticket.
The donated toys will be distributed through United Way Halton & Hamilton as part of its Holiday Helping Hand program. Kristen Jacob, vice president of marketing and communications for the organization, highlighted that the program aligns with its mission to support community well-being through initiatives targeting youth, poverty and mental health.
"[Toys for Tickets] is a program that offers meaningful ways for the community to engage with United Way and support their community . . . It is critical for our community to receive some of these toys so that children have a joyous holiday season," said Jacob.
It is critical for our community to receive some of these toys so that children have a joyous holiday season.
Kristen Jacob, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
United Way Halton & Hamilton
United Way Halton & Hamilton supported over 220,500 individuals and families across 124 social service programs last year. Jacob highlighted that one in six people in Hamilton access their services and the demand continues to increase.
"[The] thing is that when we ask family members what their wish lists are for the year or the program, they come back with things that are a little shocking to us," Jacob explained, describing that wish lists included gift cards for gas, basic hygiene products and food.
Jacob also highlighted the program's unique impact. "It gives an extra layer of compassion from people who already need to pay that fine, knowing that the toys being donated through this program are going to families who desperately need them this year . . . [the toys] gives them something to look forward to," said Jacob.
It gives an extra layer of compassion from people who already need to pay that fine, knowing that the toys being donated through this program are going to families who desperately need them this year.
Kristen Jacob, Vice President of Marketing and Communications
United Way Halton & Hamilton
In addition to Toys for Tickets, United Way encourages the community to explore other ways to give back. Options include online donations, monthly giving, or volunteering.
Looking ahead, United Way Halton & Hamilton is preparing for its Sleepless in Our Cities program in February 2025. This event raises awareness about poverty by inviting participants to spend a night in their vehicles to better understand the realities of homelessness.
Toy Story is a terrible film for children, no matter what the “G” rating would suggest.
When I tell people that watching Toy Story was a traumatic experience for the four-year-old me, they always think it’s ridiculous. If they are feeling particularly sympathetic, they may entertain the idea that Sid and his sadistic manipulation of toys could be a little scary if his victims weren’t still just toys.
But it wasn’t Sid that I had a problem with. I was most disturbed by the idea that toys could come alive at all. I’m not sure why it came as a surprise to me that Toy Story involved living toys. Maybe I had to watch the film to truly grasp the profound implications.
Toy Story made me cry so much that my parents had to take me out of the theatre. With the immediate terror having been dealt with, an insidious paranoia soon replaced it.
When we arrived home, I announced through sobs that every toy that might ever think about eating meat had to be imprisoned in the basement. This dietary discrimination included almost all of my dinosaurs, which I had, up until then, loved dearly.
But I had become wise. I would not be the late-night snack of a miniature raptor. This kind of thinking is both absurd and annoyingly logical in a way that only children can be, but apparently I didn’t stay in the theatre long enough to see that the dinosaur in Toy Story is so sensitive that he actually needs lessons on how to be scary.
The one exception I made was for my grey teddy bear named Tippy. I’d had Tippy since I was born, and we had been through too much together for him to turn on me. We were brothers. I thought I could trust him. But that trust was put through the toughest challenge it would ever face.
I awoke the next morning (assuming I had slept at all, which is questionable) without even a single bite mark. I felt bad for ever doubting him. Slowly I learned to give my trust back to the rest of the meat-eaters.
Scary stories affect us in ways that normal stories just can’t. As we grow older, we know that the images of a horror movie aren’t real, and yet they still have an incredible power to terrify us. Or make us laugh, when an attempt to be taken seriously falls flat. Maybe the appeal of scary stories is that they allow us to feel like children again, where there are big, bad and scary things in this world that we don’t understand but that we allow ourselves to believe in for an hour and a half. Or maybe it’s the exact opposite, and we like to feel that we are mature enough to handle anything.
In honour of all things scary, we present you with ANDY’s annual Halloween issue. We’ve got more stories of people’s first experiences seeing scary movies, what makes a good scary video game and a couple of reviews of new horror films. ANDY is all treat and no trick.
