It has been a while since my last post. Mike has given up on it, but I am determined to keep it going. I'm not even sure if people read it anymore. Anyways, we are now on holidays until January 5th!!! The last few weeks of school were crazy. At my school we had a winter celebration on the last evening before break. Students came with their parents and either brought donations for the food bank or for the shelter (gloves, boots, socks, toothpaste, etc.) The students and their families came to the classrooms to create cards to go to the shelters as well. They enjoyed hot chocolate (the school provided it and we served it)as they made the cards. They also made wish ribbons and created a chain with the ribbons and hung them on the Christmas trees around the school. The families then watched The Grinch in the gym on the huge screen. They laid their blankets out on the ground and wore their pajamas as well. It was such a great night. I was part of the committee that put the night together. One of the other members delivered the donations and cards to the shelters and sent the following text:
Hi everyone:
I just got back from dropping off the Inn from the Cold donations and wanted you to know that each organization was thrilled, and very appreciative of our school's donations. They were particularly touched by the student made cards.
While we were walking in to drop them off, a homeless man asked about the cards that Rob was holding in his hand. He then asked if he could have 3 cards to send to the people he loved. We gave him 3 cards and although we didn't have any envelopes to give him, he walked away smiling & admiring the cards.
We then went to drop some off at the Mustard Seed (around the corner) and they were equally touched by the thoughtfulness of our families.
Our third stop was to the Calgary Drop In Centre, and when we made our way up to the second floor, Rob and I were both surprised to see so many people (more than 200 people) having a little break from the cold, inside a warm building. Phil the man that we dropped the cards off with was speechless, and so appreciative of our small gift of cards. We left feeling a little sad that we didn't have enough cards to leave for each person there.
Our final destination was to the Food Bank. The guy at the receiving dock was happy to include our student's cards in their Christmas food hampers, and thanked us for thinking of them.
Over all it was an emotional day, and I just wanted you all to know what a great impact your work had on the less fortunate people in Calgary.
Have a great holiday, and thank you for all of your effort to make the Winter Celebration such a success!
Mike and I are very excited to come home for a week to visit with everyone. We have a lot going on over the next few days and hopefully can get everything organized before leaving on Friday. We went to the Zoolites at the Calgary Zoo last night. It was beautiful. We walked around for about an hour to see the displays. There was a great Christmas feeling - people singing carols, others gathered around outdoor fire pits, kids sliding down the hills.
