National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation vehicles hit the road for a good cause

While they might not be the famous family you’ve come to know and love from the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie, Moncton’s own Clark Griswold and Cousin Eddy are in the city for a good cause.

Parked at Pine Acres RV is the well-known RV and Ford Taurus, complete with the rooted Christmas tree, ready to be filled up with toys for kids in need this year.

“It’s a slower period of time for us, so we thought, ‘You know what, let’s take this time and give to the community again,’” said sales manager, Luc LaPointe.

In it’s second year now, Pine Acres RV is hoping to collect and donate even more toys this year, especially since this is a project they’ve been working on for quite some time.

“It brings everybody together, not only the community, but also the city,” said LaPointe. “We’re having a blast.”

Although already large in size, this movie themed toy drive is actually part of something bigger. All of the toys collected go to Moncton Headstart’s Toyland campaign.

“Last year we gave over 1,900 gifts out and probably close to about a thousand families came through the doors,” said Caroline Donnelle, the executive director at Moncton Headstart. “This year, I’m expecting the number to be a little higher.”

She says it’s still early, but toys are already starting to pile in and donations as big as the one planned from Pine Acres RV is always special.

“It was quite the spectacle,” she said. “Literally, this giant RV shows up in the driveway and it is packed to the rafters. It took the staff I think close to an hour to unload that.”

In its first year in 2021, Pine Acres RV managed to collect over 1,200 toys, and with the need evident again this year, the crew says they’re expanding and ready.

“We’re hoping to not only fill the bus like we did last year, but also to fill the station wagon. The Ford station wagon that we have,” said LaPointe.

Now, the two vehicles that are hoping to be filled aren’t the exact ones that were used in the movie, but the closest replicas that Pine Acres RV could bring in.

The two cars are taking place in Christmas parades driven, of course, by Clark Griswold and Cousin Eddy themselves.

“It was a really good turn out at all the parades and stuff,” said Clark Griswold with Pine Acres RV. “People were really, really excited to see it. It made a lot of people smile and a lot of people laugh.”

“It feels very, very good and that’s where it all stems back to, is doing this for the kids in need.”

When they aren’t on the road, the two vehicles are parked at the office.

On top of hoping to fill two vehicles this year, Pine Acres RV is also hoping to make two separate drop offs to Moncton Headstart.

The first drop off is planned for Dec. 9. Later that day, the Vogue Cinema in Sackville, N.B., is planning to play the movie and the RV will be parked on site for anyone who wants to donate.

Toyland at Moncton Headstart kicks off on Dec. 5 and families in need can sign up and book an appointment online.

“We have a low income threshold that’s on our website,” said Donnelle. She says you’ll also need “proof of identification of who you are and ID’s for your kids, so in this case, Medicare cards.”

As for Pine Acres RV and the Griswold family, they’ll be accepting donations at the store until the middle of December.