Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads

The annual children’s Christmas shopping extravaganza called Santa’s Hut is coming up soon, and donations of gift items and money are now being accepted.

The Santa’s Hut program is in its 26th year. The program is operated by the West Central Crisis and Family Support Centre with help from volunteers in six communities in the area. The Santa’s Hut events are between Dec. 1 to Dec. 15 starting in Rosetown and ending in Kindersley.

Children 12 years old and under are able to attend shopping events in their communities to purchase gifts for parents and siblings for a nominal price. Items are all priced from $0.25 for the smallest items up to a maximum of $6 for larger items.

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Donations of new, unwrapped gift items and money are being accepted for the Santa’s Hut program. There are drop-off locations in each of the six participating communities for people to donate new, unwrapped items. The communities are Kindersley, Coleville, Eatonia, Eston, Marengo and Rosetown.

People could contact the local co-ordinators for information about drop-off locations. The co-ordinators are Misty Leismeister in Kindersley, Joleen Scheible in Coleville, Holly Odland in Eatonia, Nicole Price in Eston, Sara Wilke for Marengo and Bridget Burg in Rosetown. People could contact the crisis centre at 306-463-6655 for information.

The six Santa’s Hut shopping events take place in Coleville on Dec. 7 at Rossville School from 3:30 to 5 p.m., in Eatonia on Dec. 8 at the Community Hall from 2 to 5 p.m., in Eston on Dec. 3 at AGT Community Centre from 2:45 to 5 p.m., in Kindersley on Dec. 15 at Elizabeth School from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Marengo on Dec. 5 at Westcliffe Composite School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and in Rosetown on Dec. 1 at the United Church from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Santa’s Hut events in the area take place on Dec. 5 at Westcliffe Composite School in Marenga from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Dec. 7 at Rossville School in Coleville from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and on Dec. 8 at the Community Hall in Eatonia from 2 to 5 p.m.

If people do not know what gifts to donate, they have the option to make a monetary donation. Cash donations are used to buy items before the shopping events if co-ordinators are short on items for certain demographics.

Tax receipts are available for people making donations of $20 or more, but donations have to be made at the organization’s outreach centre on First Ave. West in Kindersley to get a tax receipt. People need to keep receipts from their gift purchases if they want to get a tax receipt. If people do not want a tax receipt for cash donations, the donation could be made to their local co-ordinators.

Leismeister, the co-ordinator in Kindersley, has been involved in the program for six years. She said 26 years is a long time to be operating the program, and she hopes it continues to be successful for the area’s children.

She noted that the communities have always come through for Santa’s Hut, so the organization appreciates the support. No donation goes to waste because gifts leftover from events will either be used for subsequent events, for an annual Christmas Hamper program or stored and used for next year’s programs.

Proceeds from the shopping events support the centre’s programs and general needs. The centre provides services to people who live throughout the west central region. Leismeister said Santa’s Hut makes shopping affordable for children, and it empowers the young shoppers.

“Our whole goal with it is to make all kids just feel that they are equal to each other, and that they are all just as important as everybody else,” she said, adding that it makes the children feel good to buy gifts for family members. “It’s really to give the kids the confidence and the self esteem to know that they’re doing that on their own – that they get to go shop and do that for their family.”

The program is often short on gift items for men and teenagers, so people are encouraged to keep it in mind when shopping for items. Gifts such as movie or DVDs are good for teenagers and automotive items such as shammies and cleaning supplies are good gifts for men.

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