For more than 30 years, the Innisfail Christmas Bureau has channelled the community’s willingness to ensure a better Christmas for children, people with disabilities, seniors and often people living in isolation.
Currently, we are in “full throttle” mode. The hampers need to be in the hands of the parents by Dec. 18 when everything is packed away for another year. Therefore, donations are needed in early December. The final times to register for a hamper are Mondays (7 - 8:30 p.m.) and Wednesdays (2 - 3:30 p.m.) until Dec. 10.
Generous donations from our service clubs, churches, small businesses and big corporations, like Johns Manville, as well as individuals, provide the needed dollars to buy the food hamper cards, toys, books, puzzles, mittens, socks, snow boots and whatever is needed. This small army of volunteers works hard to make this service happen. Most volunteers have worked for many years.
The bureau has enjoyed success and has had to overcome many challenges, not the least of which is the annual search for a space to house the operation. Spaces, usually empty stores, have been new, old, large and small, but we always make it work. Although temporary, the site needs space for gift-laden tables, interview stations with privacy, a gift-wrapping station, a waiting area with chairs, a small bit of “office” counter and must be centrally accessible.
Volunteers can share many touching and heartwarming stories. We have experienced the happy tears of a single parent overwhelmed by the generous five or six heavy black garbage bags and the food for a beautiful Christmas dinner.
When a family member suddenly loses a job, the thought of buying gifts or extra food feels impossible and overwhelming.
One young mom walked several blocks to pick up what she thought would be a small bag of gifts. When she saw the many bags and even a brand-new bike, she burst into tears saying, "I can’t take all this, I don’t have a car." We gave her a ride home. She cried all the way.
One year a well-dressed woman came in to work because years earlier she had small children, no job and no money. She needed our help. The Christmas Bureau gave her children a good Christmas. She had never forgotten that feeling.
Thank you to the Innisfail community for making the Christmas Bureau a success!
Norma Hoppins is the donations chair for the Innisfail Christmas Bureau.
