The giving spirit is in full swing
Anonymous hamper program, school kindness initiative kick off Christmas season
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, December 8, 2016
INUVIK
Giving season seems to be in full swing in Inuvik.
Muria McDonald, left, sells Mischa O'Hara, right, a candy cane note. O'Hara wrote a nice letter to a classmate and had it delivered by the candy cane team as part of a cheer-building initiative at East Three Elementary School before Christmas. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photos
|
The Santa's Elves project is running again this year. It is a Christmas hamper project run by a group of anonymous volunteers who coordinate hampers and disperse them to families in need.
Individuals, government departments and businesses sponsor a family or donate to the project, while families self-apply at Ingamo Hall to receive hampers.
"Then we give as many hampers as we're able to with our sponsors and our donations in that year," said one of the elves, choosing to remain anonymous.
Christmas can be a tough time for some families, said the elf, and the idea of the project is that families will receive everything they require to have good food that day. The hampers will have breakfast and dinner materials and some Christmas treats.
The organization will be accepting donations up to its delivery date of Dec. 21 and afterward, as it is usually still paying bills in January.
The official deadline for families to apply to receive a hamper has passed but there is a bit of a grace period said the elf, and any family interested should apply at Ingamo Hall by Dec. 9.
Filling out an application doesn't guarantee a hamper, though, as the project is criteria- and donation-dependant.
"I encourage people if they have anything to give, even if it's a few dollars, to support this project because there are always so many families (in need)," said the elf. "When I look at the numbers on the applications, we're talking some families have seven or eight people in them. It's inter-generational families living together and it's so hard when we have to say no."
At East Three School, students have embarked on a month of kindness. Each day they are challenged to do something nice, whether that be letting someone ahead in a line, giving a compliment or using please and thank you.
The Grade 6 leadership committee has taken on an additional initiative to sell candy canes similar to candy grams at Valentine's Day.
Students purchase a cane and write a nice note to someone on it. Then the leadership committee delivers the candy cane and note to the recipient.
"(It's about) how to promote kindness, how to make our school a more inviting and inclusive place to be," said teacher Abe Drennan.
"We thought that would be a nice thing to focus on for December."
Anyone interested in donating to the Santa's Elves project can e-mail inuvikelves@yahoo.ca.
