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Local services come together to provide toys this Christmas

“It’s just a wonderful feeling when you see community groups coming together to support our community initiatives and help the people of the community. We wouldn’t be able to provide as many gifts as we do without the Stuff a Bus event."
Stuff a bus 2019
Volunteers pose for a photo at last year's Stuff a Bus event. Photo submitted.

COCHRANE— The Cochrane and Area Events Society is getting ready to once again host its annual Stuff a Bus Toy Drive in support of the Cochrane Activettes' annual Share Your Christmas Hamper Program.

The fundraisers will take place at Canadian Tire from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 12.

Each year, the Activettes fill hundreds of hampers and hand them out to families in need in Cochrane, and to support their efforts, the Cochrane and Area Events Society fills up school busses with toy donations to be used in the program.

There will be a COLT bus and a Southland school bus on scene, both of which need to be filled with toys.

The Share Your Christmas Hamper Program has been running for more than 20 years, and Stuff a Bus has been contributing for 11 years.

This year will be like any other, with a few notable differences due to COVID-19, said Marina Chabbert, secretary of the Cochrane and Area Events Society.

Like other years, Santa will be on scene, taking photos with families, taking a list, and checking it twice. But in order to keep people safe, Santa will be posing for photos from behind a window to keep his distance from kids and families.

To get a photo, the Cochrane and Area Events Society is requesting a donation, and with the donation, you will get a free emailed picture with Santa Claus.

“The event that we have is fairly low contact because people trickle in through the day,” Chabbert said.

Kathy Hubman, a member of the Cochrane Activettes said the club is anticipating a huge rise in the number of hampers they will provide this year.

The economic fallout created by the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for these types of services, and the Activettes are hoping to provide everyone in need with a Christmas hamper this year.

“We are just hopeful that Cochranites and people from the area will continue to support this program. We have seen really great turnout in donations,” she said. “We have set up more donation boxes in businesses than ever before this year.”

Chabbert noted that the opportunity to support the Cochrane Activettes fulfill the growing number of donations needed is one that they relish.

“For us to step in and assist in that capacity is huge for us. It’s really a great tribute to the great people we have in Cochrane, because without their donations this wouldn’t be happening,” Chabbert said. “It really is, from the businesses to the individual people who contribute and purchase presents or gifts, or provide food or monetary donations.”

In previous years, the Stuff a Bus program has been very successful. Two busses are usually filled to the brim, and sometimes one of the busses will leave, be emptied, and come back for another load.

It has an effort that has not gone unnoticed by the Activettes.

“It’s just a wonderful feeling when you see community groups coming together to support our community initiatives and help the people of the community. We wouldn’t be able to provide as many gifts as we do without the Stuff a Bus event, and getting as many stuffed animals as we have in the past from the Hitmen Hockey game has been a huge contribution to our program.”

Typically, the Calgary Hitmen WHL team has a teddy bear toss game, where spectators are invited to throw teddy bears onto the ice when the Hitmen score their first goal of the game.

This year, the Hitmen are hosting a three-day event where people can drive by a location in Calgary and throw a teddy bear into an inflatable ice rink.

The bears are distributed all across the province, and Hubman said the Activettes are still anticipating a significant teddy bear donation from the hockey team.

Members from the Cochrane Activettes and the Cochrane and Area Events Society will be on-site to collect the toy, monetary, clothing and food donations, and help families get photos with Santa.

At 1:30 p.m. several dignitaries from the clubs involved, Mayor Jeff Genung, MLA Peter Guthrie, MP Blake Richards will make an appearance for photo opportunities.

To learn more about the program, or to be considered as a family to receive a hamper, visit the Cochrane Activettes website at cochraneactivettes.com/.

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