小蓝视频

WILKIE — The Wilkie Christmas Hamper committee have been getting things organized for this year’s program. Chair Helen Urlacher had reached out to the community about donations for the children and the families. The response has been exceptionally good. She was more than a bit surprised as on a weekend, a couple called and said they wanted to make donations to the hampers.

Urlacher said, "When the couple arrived at her door, they had ten Christmas gift bags full of items for girls and ten Christmas gift bags full of items for boys."

Urlacher and the committee were overwhelmed by this gesture. She asked the couple, ‘why the donations?’ They said when they were a young couple with three young boys, they had $50 to buy gifts as things were tight. They were able to get gifts from a dollar store so that their kids would have something under the tree. In the evening on the day, they bought the gifts, there was a knock at the door and when they answered, there stood a group of people with a large hamper, filled with food and presents for Christmas. They said they were overwhelmed by the kindness, saying they would someday when things were better, they would ‘pay it forward.’

When this generous couple moved to Wilkie and heard of the Christmas Hamper program, they knew they would keep that promise, buying the gifts for the kids.

Urlacher said, "The generosity of this couple and so many others, along with the home-based businesses and local businesses has been amazing."

The cut-off date for the food donation boxes, which are at Viterra, Country Ford, Wilkie Co-op, and St. James Church is December 10. The response has been amazing Urlacher said, which is great as there has been an increase in the number of hampers to be handed out this year.

The Outlaw game on December 4 saw teddy bears and non-perishable food donations for the hampers. People were really in the spirit of giving Urlacher said, with a huge amount of food and loads of teddy bears!

The Christmas Hampers will be delivered on Dec. 18 by Santa and his helpers. Monetary donations can be made at the Innovation Credit Union and tax receipts are given for those donations.

Urlacher adds,"This is my first time getting the Christmas Hampers together." She knew Wilkie, and area were a giving and caring community and knew that the hamper project would be successful. The support of businesses and home-based businesses plus personal donations has been the job of organizing and putting the hampers together a very easy chore, saying "Paying it forward is what so many in Wilkie do every year."