Christmas is known as “the giving season,” a time for good cheer, good times, and goodwill.
Judging by the flurry of activity by numerous groups in and around Richmond, the holidays comprise all of those elements as charitable efforts are aplenty.
Some start months before turning the calendar page to December. Others just get going in the final few weeks of the year.
But each have in common a strong allegiance to making life better for the community as a whole.
Here then, is a run down of just some of the drives and collections made in Richmond at this special time of year.
Kettles keep whistling
Salvation Army Christmas kettles
campaign runs until Dec. 24 in various high traffic locations
You could call it the sound of Christmas.
It’s the recognizable jingle of bells that accompanies the traditional red collection kettle of the Salvation Army which can be placed
outside a busy shopping plaza, perched beside the door to the local liquor store, or nestled inside the entrance of a brightly lit mall.
In Richmond, there are up to 20 dotted around at various locations where passersby can deposit their donation and get a smile, thank-you, and perhaps even a candy cane from those tending the kettle.
Overseeing the local efforts is L’Nielle Pantoja, kettle coordinator.
“This morning, we have 14 kettles out,” Pantoja said, checking her computer list Monday of where and who is minding the collections. “As December progresses, we’ll have more going out each day.”
The campaign runs from Nov. 22 and ends on Dec. 24. In that time, the fundraiser — the Salvation Army’s biggest of the year — is projected to bring in about $150,000 in Richmond. All donations stay in the community where they are collected and are used for a variety of programs, much of it directed towards family services such as funding kids camps, providing legal services to those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer, and the weekly community kitchen which in Richmond feeds people each Thursday at the Gilbert Rd. location.
Helping the Salvation Army reach its fundraising goals are the businesses that allow the kettles to be placed outside their premises, said Bruce Stygall who has been a volunteer locally for the better part of two decades.
“We have a good relationships with our corporate sponsors, places like Safeway, the liquor stores, the casino and the malls. And I enjoy doing the kettles because I love interacting with people,” Stygall said, adding he and his wife, Willa, usually take a shift together and are kept busy chatting up the people who drop their change or roll up their dollar bills and slide it through the kettle’s slots. “We tend to do quite well when we’re together.”
Although the campaign is well underway, the Salvation Army is still in need of volunteers to preside over a kettle.
All of those assigned to the kettles undergo a criminal record check. To enquire about volunteering, call 604-277-2424.
Slapshot for foodbank
Seafair Peewee A1 team — Fill Our Hockey Bags With Food Richmond Food Bank drive
Dec. 6 from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at
Save On Foods (Terra Nova and Ironwood)
The Christmas season is often a time when the calendar can be jam packed with ice hockey tournaments or practices. But for the past two years, one group of young players has used their off-ice time to help the city’s less fortunate.
Wearing their jerseys and toting their hockey bags, the Safari Minor Hockey Peewee A1 team has been posted outside two Save On Foods locations, at Terra Nova and Ironwood, to collect donations for the Richmond Food Bank.
The event is dubbed “Fill Our Hockey Bags with Food!” And that’s exactly what the public has done. Last year, they collected $1,753.16 in cash donations, plus 625 food items.
The team will be at it again this Saturday (Dec. 6) at the same two Save On Foods locations from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“We have a really great group,” said Germaine Lee-Nelson, the team’s manager. “There’s plenty of leaders on the team, and all of the players have a wonderful sense of responsibility and understanding of how important it is to give back to their community.”And while all donations are gratefully accepted, the food bank is asking the public to consider items that are on the healthy end of the grocery aisle.
Steveston Smiles
3951 Steveston Hwy.
Richmond Food Bank Drive
Runs Dec. 1 - 22
The sign outside Doug Nielsen’s dental practice may read Steveston Smiles, referring to his patients. But at this time of year, it’s the generous actions of his patients that is making him smile.
That’s because a drive in aid of the Richmond Food Bank has, in its first few days, already resulted in a generous response from the community.
Nielsen, who is joined in the practice by daughter Michelle, has put up a home-based, teeth-whitening kit as a prize for those dropping off goods at the Steveston No. 1 Rd. location which has been a fixture in the community since 1973.
Michelle said the idea for the drive came from Kristina Simpson, a dental assistant at the practice.
Blanketing the community
Realtors Care Blanket Drive
Collection dates: Mid to late November
Website: blanketdrive.ca
Hearing Deb Rosen speak about the success of the annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive you begin to understand the power of community connections which have developed over the past two decades to assist the less fortunate.
That’s how long the Lower Mainland-wide event, organized by the Real Estate Board of Vancouver, has been running in which local realtors distribute plastic bags to their clients who fill them with not just blankets but all manner of usable clothing items, from shoes and sweaters to coats and toques.
While the official collection date for items was Nov. 17 to 24, many people began gathering their goods for donation months prior.
“I started in September,” said Rosen, who along with fellow Richmond realtors Diana Dickey, Gord Lockhart and Charmaine McCarthy, act as organizers for the local campaign. “When I meet clients, I give them bags, tell them what we’re doing and tell them the reason I support this is that everything goes directly to the people who need it. And people jump on board because of that.
“A lot of people are moving — selling and buying houses — and they are packing up. Now, they have a bag they can put stuff in that they don’t want, knowing their realtor will pick it up and bring it here,” she added. “This is a real community effort. It’s not like we’re soliciting for clients. We’re just trying to do a good deed.”
One donation that stood out in Rosen’s mind this year was a bag stuffed with 76 toques that were hand-knitted by an 80-something lady who suffers with arthritis.
“That was just exceptional,” Rosen said. “Apparently, she knits every year. But this time was likely going to be her last because of her arthritis, so she decided to donate the toques to us because they would be distributed locally.”
Once all the donated goods are collected, they are sorted on tables inside the Salvation Army’s Richmond Community Church where families that have been identified to be in need of assistance are invited to come pick out what they need.
Those families are then invited back to partake in a special Christmas dinner event held over two nights — Dec. 18 and 19 — at the church.
For more information on the annual Realtors Care Blanket Drive, visit rebgv.org/blanket-drive.
It’s a wrap
Richmond Christmas Fund
Sandhu Family Community Initiative Toy & Book Drive
Donations accepted until Dec. 14 at the Riga Showroom (7691 Bridge St.)
One of the largest charitable efforts undertaken during the holiday season is organized by the Richmond Christmas Fund.
Through Volunteer Richmond, it assists roughly 2,000 people, or 750 households locally thanks to a variety of fundraising and donation drives.
Among them are the Toy-A-Rama Toy Drive which has drawn together four businesses, plus the Richmond Chamber of Commerce to collect gifts which are then distributed to children whose families have applied for assistance.
Toys can be dropped off until Dec. 15 at: Nurse Next Door (120 - 12000 First Ave.), Richmond Chamber of Commerce (202, North Tower, 5811 Cooney Rd.), WealthSmart Financial Group (3251 Chatham St.), Signarama (120 - 4471 No. 6 Rd.) and Riverside Mortgage Group (118 - 6033 London Rd.).
The Christmas Fund also receives financial help from the Richmond Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Christmas Luncheon on Thursday, Dec. 11at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel. Last year, the event raised $11,400 for the Christmas Fund.
If you are looking for some help wrapping gifts, you can also help out the Christmas Fund with a wrapping service at Lansdowne Centre and Richmond Centre. The services are offered during mall hours at Lansdowne Centre until Dec. 24, while at Richmond Centre, wrapping continues until Dec. 26.
New this year is the Sandhu Family Community Initiative which launched a Toy and Book Drive. Until Dec. 14 donations of new, unwrapped toys and children’s books will be accepted at the Riga Showroom (7691 Bridge St.) daily, except Fridays, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Hamper drive touches down at YVR
Quest Food Exchange
Drop off of donations on Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Spirit of Haida Gwaii sculpture on Departures Level 3 of the International Terminal Building
Donations for Christmas hampers are touching down at YVR on a regular basis during the holiday season.
This is the fourth annual Quest Hamper Drive that supports the Quest Food Exchange, allowing the airport community to rally together and donate holiday spirit in the form of a turkey dinner to a family in need.
The goal this year is to help more than 500 families and YVR is encouraging members of the local community to drop off completed hamper(s) on Dec. 11. For every hamper donated, the Vancouver Airport Authority will purchase one turkey to complete the dinner.
Each hamper should contain the following:
2 cans of soup
1 box of crackers
2 boxes stuffing
2 cans of veggies
2 boxes instant mashed potatoes
1 can cranberry sauce
2 packets instant gravy
1 box of cookies
1 box of granola bars
Kicking off a good cause
Richmond FC food bank drive
Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at West Richmond Community Centre
This holiday season Richmond FC has chosen to support the Richmond Food Bank which serves approximately 1,400 people a week.
Saturday Dec. 13, the soccer club (featured on front) will be holding a collection for non-perishable donations and cash donations at the West Richmond Community Centre.
Among the most needed items for the food bank are canned soup, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. Personal hygiene Items are also needed.
Tania Webster, the club’s administrator, said Richmond FC usually alternates which community groups it supports at Christmas time.
“Last year it was the Richmond Christmas Fund,” she said, adding this is the fifth year Richmond FC has held a Christmas drive.
In addition to collecting food this year, the soccer club has assisted Richmond Food Bank clients by offering free youth registration through its Everyone Can Play initiative.
“That drew 35 players to all levels, from house to metro,” Webster said.
(Editor’s note: If you know of other Christmas campaigns in Richmond, let the News know and we will add them to this story on our website. Email the details to: [email protected].)
