Operation Christmas strikes again
St. Patrick High School students form human chain to bring food donations to Salvation Army
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
St. Patrick High School students broke out in Christmas carols Friday afternoon as they formed a human chain to deliver about 50 boxes of non-perishable food to the doors of the Salvation Army.
Josh Ramos, left, Jasmine Sleno and Hayly Soares, Grade 11 students at St. Patrick High School, pose for a photo during Operation Christmas on Friday. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Operation Christmas involves around 200 students standing in a line passing the boxes from the school's gym down a roadway, across Franklin Avenue and into the Salvation Army building.
The boxes are filled with food such as pasta, coffee, canned vegetables and fruit that will be used for the Salvation Army's Christmas Hamper Program. The program provides a hamper filled with a turkey and other food for the holidays to anyone who asks.
"It's through their support that we can continue to do our Christmas hamper program in both here in Yellowknife and the outlying communities," said the Salvation Army's Lt. Dusty Sauder as the donations were received.
As of Friday, he said there were 210 households in the city that had requested a hamper and he expected that figure to grow. Distribution of the hampers in the city was expected to start Monday.
There are also 248 hampers sent to eight other communities via planes and trucks.
Those hampers include less than the ones delivered in the city, but still have basics like a turkey, dressing, cranberries, hot chocolate, boxed potatoes and chocolate cake, according to the Salvation Army.
"Without this support, we wouldn't be able to do it," Sauder said Friday in a room stacked with donated food.
The school's students have been donating for years, though the annual human-chain mode of delivery was added in 2009.
Catherine Coolen, a teacher at the school, said St. Pat's classes consider what food items are needed to make a full Christmas hamper and then plan how much they can provide.
This year that came to about 50 boxes worth of donated food including fresh carrots and potatoes.
"It's the essentials to get through a Christmas meal," she said.
Some classes provide one hamper, while others provide up to seven.
"As a staff member, it's probably one of my favourite days to work at St. Pats," said Coolen, who is involved with the school's Interact Club that helps organize Operation Christmas.
"It's amazing to see how much our students want to give to the population and give selflessly."
The school's donation was one of several efforts that contributed to the Salvation Army's hamper program. On Friday, Northwestel donated 200 toys to the Salvation Army for the hampers, according to a news release.
The donated toys had been collected over a month-long toy drive when Northwestel employees and customers could drop off new and unwrapped toys at Northwestel's retail centre.
The toys will be included in hampers for families with children under 14-years old.
