For years now, the Knights of Columbus, alongside the Santa’s Elves out of St. Paul Regional High School, have been partnering to bring both hampers and gifts to families in need of a little extra help over the Christmas year.
“This year there, realizing the situation, we sort of envisioned a smaller hamper, right from the start,” said Herman Poulin, chair of the Christmas hamper drive, noting that the Christmas bureau out of Edmonton had seen more demand for charitable donations because of tougher economic times. But he said the Knights of Columbus had no fear that the drive would be successful once again.
“Boy, the town, the clubs and the youth, do they ever chip into that,” he said. “We know the support will be there. We actually have no worries – because we have the town behind us and the surrounding communities.”
Demand for the Christmas hampers spiked in the two weeks heading up to Christmas, noted fellow Knights of Columbus’ Simon Dargis, saying that requests for hampers nearly doubled from 113 to 211 in a week. But the donations were there.
“The donations were good – it’s almost matching to last year,” he said, as volunteers from across the community and from organizations such as 4-H packed boxes of food and readied them for delivery on Saturday at the Senior Citizens Centre.
When it came to toys, last year, there were 370 kids that were in need of gifts; this year, the demand increased to 418, said Poulin; but with the support and donations from individuals and groups, the Knights and Elves were able to meet the demand, filling in holes with the help of cash donations, with Santa’s Elves (otherwise known as Regional students) wrapping up the gifts.
On Sunday, Poulin said volunteers made deliveries, with the Jr. B Canadiens also lending a hand. Poulin was also among the delivery drivers, taking along his eight-year-old grandson Matthis along for the ride.
“I had the best time possible,” he said with a big smile. “All the ones (we delivered), they were very worthy recipients. You could feel that, you could see that. I felt compassion with them.”
Those receiving gifts and hampers were very appreciative and thankful for the extra support, with Poulin also expressing his appreciation for the year that it turned out to be for the annual food and toy drive.
“My feeling is extreme gratitude to all who helped. When everybody has a task, no job is too big. I’m extremely, extremely grateful to public relations, to donors, to contributors, to little hands and footsteps. That’s what it is. Together, it was a small task when we all chip in together.”
