Kenneth Brown
of The Crossroads
An annual program that empowers children in six area communities by giving them the chance to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones is in need of donations.
The Santa’s Hut program gives children 12 years of age and under a chance to attend shopping events in their communities to purchase gifts for parents and siblings for a nominal price.
Items are priced from a minimum of 25¢ for smaller items to a maximum of $6 for larger items.
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 gift items.
Misty Leismeister, president of the West Central Crisis and Family Support Centre in Kindersley, is a co-ordinator for the program. It is the 25th year for the Santa’s Hut program and she said donations of gift items and cash are down with shopping events set to start next week.
“We’ve really got nothing so far this year,” she said. Donations are down in nearly every community where shopping events are held and support will be needed over the next week. “We are low in every area.”
The co-ordinator said the program is always short on items for men and teenagers, but there is a shortage of items for every age group and gender. The program is particularly short in items for men, boys and teenagers. Leismeister works with local co-ordinators in each community and she said she has heard donations are down everywhere.
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For people who could have a hard time choosing gift items to donate, she said cash donations are just as good because co-ordinators use the money to purchase items before the shopping events. The money helps to fill the gaps if they are short items for certain demographics.
She noted that donations of new gift items will be accepted at the drop-off locations until the day before each shopping event. The first shopping event is in Colevile next Friday and the event in Rosetown takes place the next day.
Leismeister said no donation ever goes to waste. If items are not purchased at an event one year, they are rolled over to the next year or used to help fill gaps for subsequent events. Donations tend to come in slowly to start before picking up near the end of November, but this year has been slower than normal, she said.
The six participating communities are Coleville, Eatonia, Eston, Kindersley, Marengo and Rosetown. Each of the six communities has at least one local co-ordinator in addition to having drop-off locations. Only donations of new, unwrapped gift items should be made at drop-off locations.
Tax receipts are available for people making donations of money or toys, but donations have to be made at the organization’s outreach centre on First Avenue West in Kindersley in order to get a tax receipt. People must keep receipts from their gift purchases if they want a tax receipt. If people do not want a tax receipt for their cash donations, a donation could be made to the co-ordinators in their communities.
The six Santa’s Hut shopping events take place in Coleville on Dec. 1 at Rossville School from 3:30 to 5 p.m., in Eatonia on Dec. 9 at the Community Hall from 2 to 5 p.m., in Eston on Dec. 4 at AGT Community Centre from 2:45 to 5 p.m., in Kindersley on Dec. 16 at Elizabeth School from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in Marengo on Dec. 7 at Westcliffe School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and in Rosetown on Dec. 2 at the United Church from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The drop-off locations are Rossville School in Coleville, Bredy’s Country Store and Eatonia United Church in Eatonia, Nic’s and Cuts in Eston, the Kindersley Mall administration office and (crisis) outreach centre in Kindersley. For Marengo, there are several locations including the Alsask Post Office, JC’s Little Valley Store in Flaxcombe, Co-op store in Hoosier and Westcliffe School and municipal office in Marengo. For Rosetown, locations are Pharmasave, the United Church and the Bargain Store.
Local co-ordinators for the communities are Leismeister and Doreen Gramlich in Kindersley, Jolene Scheible in Coleville, Anne Rhodes in Eatonia, Nicole Price and Jacqui Thome in Eston, Sara Wilke in Marengo and Bridget Berg in Rosetown.
“It’s all about the kids,” Leismeister added, noting that the program is well utilized by children in the communities and although the proceeds from shopping events help to support the centre and its services, the children benefit from the excitement of shopping for their families.
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