When Chestermere Cares began thinking of how they could help those that were affected by the flooding and were just realizing that they had lost most of or all of their Christmas decorations, a partnership and a plan came together.
On Sunday December 6th, The Neighbours Gifting Neighbors event took place at the Chestermere Municipal Building. A collaborative donation collection and distribution drive initiated by Chestermere Cares in partnership with Chestermere Angels and The City of Chestermere, was held to assist those who had lost Christmas decorations in the flood.
“The generosity of the community, and surrounding businesses, was overwhelming as we were able to extend the invitation to all those affected by the July floods”, said members of Chestermere Caress. The event provided cookie decorating and ornament making activities for families, in addition to tree and ornament pick up to help families make new Christmas memories.
Last month the call went out to the community to bring in new or gently used Christmas ornaments, decorations, trees, basically any holiday décor that would help those that lost their items. “We were fortunate to receive a donation from Fortis, which allowed us to purchase Christmas trees. Items donated by community members included everything you can imagine – gently used trees, new decorative ornaments, strings of lights, garland, wreaths of all shapes and sizes, and miscellaneous holiday items like a Rudolf car kit, Christmas mugs, and more! Gift cards were provided from East Hill’s Walmart and northeast Calgary Home Depot. Most heartwarming, were the responses from those who discovered decorations nostalgic to them – that they had grown up with as a child”, said event organizers.
Although there was not an exact count of how many items were collected, Council Chambers were full and calls were still coming in to donate decorations as the event was happening. The Chestermere Public Library and Chestermere Recreation Centre helped in the collecting of the donated items and their bins were constantly overflowing.
Over 50 families and individuals were able to brighten up their holiday season this year from the generosity of our community. “We were so moved and inspired when families shared their stories with us, telling us how much of a difference this event will impact their holidays. Many were excited to share their newly found nostalgic decorations with their little ones”.
Organizers encouraged everyone to take for themselves and for any friends, family, or neighbours in need. “It was really nice to see how many collected items for neighbours that were not able to attend the event on Sunday”.
“We would like to thank the community for their generosity; the Library and Rec Center for collecting the items; volunteers who assisted with sorting, transporting, and displaying the items; volunteers who greeted, decorated cookies, and made ornaments; Chestermere’s Tim Hortons for providing coffee, hot chocolate, and juice; Strathmore’s McDonalds for providing juice; and Mike from East Hill’s Walmart and Moe from east Calgary’s Home Depot for donating gift cards. We’d really like to thank all the families and individuals who came to Neighbours Gifting Neighbours as we were able to make new memories with them. Last, but not least, Chestermere Cares would really like to thank Dee from Chestermere Angels. We would not have been able to help as many families and residents without her hard work and dedication in helping us coordinate and promote this event”.
Event organizers commented “Several people said they were so touched by the generosity of the community – they love it here – that people care so much.
One woman who said she didn’t even have time to check what was usable from the flood – it all got taken away – so she was able to construct Christmas in her house – provided by those caring Chestermere community members…
Along with the smiles and the tears of joy, there were feelings of gratitude and community”.
There were still quite a few new trees and donated decorations available after Sunday’s event. Fortunately the municipal building was able to help by providing space for all the donations to remain available to the community Wednesday through Saturday (December 9th to 12th). “We took this opportunity to collaborate with Christmas with Dignity (CWD) by donating some of the collected items to the Children’s Christmas Store, a community service and CWD Fundraiser. As residents came by to pick up goods, many asked how they could continue to help their fellow neighbour and many cash contributions were subsequently received. All cash donations received for Neighbours Gifting Neighbours were forwarded to Christmas with Dignity as this program helps families and residents from Chestermere and South East Rocky View year round”.
