Thursday, November 13, 2025

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Cumberland House Unites In Support Of Toy Drive

The businesses operating from Cumberland House in Cannonvale have combined fronts and united in the spirit of Christmas and gift-giving, to support the Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre's annual Toy Drive.

Cumberland House contains three local businesses, Whitsunday Law, Accountancy Plus and Queensland Sotheby's International Realty.

What started as a casual conversation between businesses has quickly turned into a full-scale festive effort, with the team setting up a giving tree in their foyer to collect gifts for children aged from newborn to 17 years.

The initiative came together in record time after a chat between Lynn from Sotheby’s and Kellee from Whitsunday Law.

Following the chat Cumberland House as a whole sparked the idea to take part in the Neighbourhood Centre’s annual Christmas Toy Drive.

“The email went around on Thursday last week, and by Monday we had the tree, the tags, and the decorations up. Everyone just jumped in, it really was a team effort," said Sheri Flynn from Whitsunday Law, and real advocate and drive for this project.

The tree, now proudly standing in the Cumberland House foyer, invites the community to get involved by donating unwrapped gifts. Tags on the tree are marked with age ranges, allowing donors to match presents to the appropriate group.

“If someone buys a gift for, say, a 10-year-old girl, they can simply grab a tag from the tree, attach it to their present, and place it on the donation table,” explained Sheri.

“And if we run out of tags, people can pop into any of our offices and we’ll print more.”

Donations can be dropped off at Cumberland House between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, until November 27. After that, the gifts will be delivered to the Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre in time for their Pop-Up Shop, held on December 11 and 12.

Head to Cumberland House now to donate gifts for Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre's annual toy drive. Photo credit: Daniel Heggie

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