Donations for Children’s Center are accepted locally

A business in downtown Camas is among the companies accepting gift items, such as board games, art materials and soccer balls, for the Children’s Center.

New and unwrapped toys, stuffed animals, hats, mittens, gift cards and movie passes can be dropped off with Minda Coombs, a sales associate for the A.L. Insurance Group, Inc., 418 N.E. Fourth Ave.

The Children’s Center, a private, non-profit state licensed community mental health agency, has provided mental health services for children, youth and families for more than 20 years.

More than 90 percent of the families served by the agency live in low income households.

“At any given time, Children’s Center has approximately 600 children on our case load,” said Children’s Center Executive Director Pat Beckett. “As our goal is to provide a gift to every child in the family, we typically need more than 1,500 toys donated to meet the need.

“We greatly appreciate the generosity of community members who choose to support the toy drive,” she added. “It really means the world to our young clients.”

Donations are accepted through Monday. The age range of clients is preschool through teens.

Other collection sites in the area include Kazoodles Toy Store, 13503 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., Ste. B-3; HomeStreet Bank, 2100 S.E. 164th Ave., Ste. F104; and The Quarry Senior Living, 415 S.E. 177th Ave., Vancouver. Donations can also be dropped off at the Children’s Center, 415 W. 11th St., Vancouver.

For more information, call 699-2244.