Patriot Ledger // Published November 29, 2016 // By Sean Cotter

The college is holding a toy drive through Wednesday, Dec. 7, looking for games, toys and school supplies.

QUINCY – The fire on Cape Cod burned up more than 1,200 toys and 200 backpacks filled with school supplies, all meant as Christmas gifts for the children of local military personnel.

Now Quincy College is stepping in to help make sure the kids end up with toys all the same.

The college is holding a toy drive through Wednesday, Dec. 7, looking for games, toys and school supplies for the children, said Katy Spencer Johnson, a spokeswoman for Quincy College.

Every year, the Joint Base Cape Cod and Cape Cod Military Support Foundation host an annual holiday party that includes gifts for children who live on the Falmouth base. But the goodies the organization had collected all burned up in a blaze Oct. 28 that destroyed the nine attached mobile trailers that served as the home of the foundation.

“This year in particular as a result of the horrible fire … we said, ‘look, let’s do something,’” Johnson said.

The college is looking for puzzles, games, school supplies, big-print books, gift cards for stores that cater to teenagers and unwrapped toys aimed at kids aged 3 and 12.

Quincy College has drop-off locations in both of its campuses; in Quincy, it’s in the admissions center on the first floor of Presidents Place at 1250 Hancock St., and in Plymouth it’s in the registrar’s office in the second floor of 36 Cordage Park Circle.

Because of the extent of the damage, the state fire marshal’s office couldn’t determine a cause for the October blaze, but the office said at the time that there were no indications it was suspicious.

The foundation, which gives out toys and supplies to military families at annual events, lost everything in the office, including about 200 backpacks filled with school supplies, holiday decorations, inflatables and about 5,000 stocking stuffers and 1,200 toys, The Cape Cod Times reported at the time.

– Sean Philip Cotter may be reached by email at scotter@ledger.com, by phone at 617-786-7049, or by liking his page on Facebook. The Cape Cod Times contributed to this report.

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