Tubs with Toys gives back to community

By Lethbridge Herald on December 18, 2021.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Staff members from The Ensuite and YWCA Harbour House pack toys to be taken and distributed among children staying at Harbour House on Friday at The Ensuite bath and kitchen showroom.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – Lethbridge Herald

The Ensuite’s 12th annual Tubs with Toys event wrapped up on Friday and all collected toys were donated to the YWCA Harbour House Women’s Emergency Shelter. 

“What we do is reach out to our community, our vendors, our customers, and we ask for donations and EMCO puts some money in as well to fill our tubs with toys,” said Joey Baranyay, profit center manager for EMCO and The Ensuite bath and kitchen showroom. 

He said that they recognize there is a dire need for donations and toys to help out kids and families during the holiday season, especially this year. 

“It’s something nice to give back to the community, because the community gives us so much during the year, and to help us become such a successful business,” said Baranyay. 

He explained that on Thursday they shopped at Mastermind Toys in partnership with BridgeCity Chrysler. 

“The two businesses went to Mastermind Toys and spent about $13,000 on toys. Mastermind also donated a bunch of the toys and they give us discounts on our shop as well,” said Baranyay. 

He explained that their purchase amounted to around $13,000 but retail price would have been around $20,000 worth of toys.  

“It was a lot of fun. It’s fun to go and do the shopping and we are just really happy to be able to give back to the community,” said Baranyay. 

He said this event is fun for them because they have multiple tubs in their showroom that can be filled up. 

“It’s a phenomenal feeling seeing all these tubs filled,” said Denille Tizzard, program manager for YWCA Harbour House Women’s Emergency Shelter, and Harbour House Support Services.

Tizzard said the donated toys will help approximately 50 children coming from approximately 30 families. But not only would this help for Christmas, this will help throughout the year. 

She said that in the shelter they do many things for the children. One is every month they do an ‘unbirthday’ where they celebrate the birthday of any resident who is present the entire year. 

“So this will provide children with gifts then. We also do ‘welcome to the shelter’ packages for children to give them a little bit of comfort because they are coming from a very traumatic background into a very new place,” said Tizzard. 

She explained that this will help them transition a little bit better because toys for kids are very comforting. 

“We are so grateful to the city of Lethbridge, what we have noticed the past month specifically is the generosity of the city and the wanting to help women and children in need, so this is absolutely amazing,” said Tizzard. 

She said that the toys will also go to the children of women that have successfully left a domestic violence situation and have secured housing for them and their children, through their Harbour House Support Services, formally known as outreach services, as well as any children from mothers utilizing the services of safe visitation or the Amethyst project. 

“We try to spread as much as we can, but because of this massive donation, unless we give every child 20 gifts, this enables us to give throughout the year,” said Tizzard. 

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