But meals haven’t always been its focus. Warm Welcome started in 2012 as a shelter, providing a place to stay for the homeless in the community during the winter months. Not only was it a refuge for those who couldn’t afford a place to live, but it was a needed service for those who came to the community to work but couldn’t find a home at a time when Estevan had no available rental properties. But in the fall of 2017, Warm Welcome pivoted, and switched its shelter to a community kitchen, where people come to enjoy a hot meal and fellowship.
Cheers to St. Giles Anglican Church for playing the bells during the Christmas season. It gives us hope, peace and joy in these sad times we are in right now. Cheers to the Woodlawn Regional Park for the fourth annual Festival of Lights. It’s great to have something to do during the Christmas season, and the displays look terrific. Cheers to Eddie Webster’s. The effort to keep the menu always fun and fresh is by far the best in town. They have also shown extra effort to keep people engaged in the take-home kits they offer. Cheers to an honest gentleman. An disabled individual recently purchased an item and the honest gentleman offered to pick up any groceries while he was out. Very trusting young gentleman. Please everyone be kind.
Just like everything else this year, the Angel Tree program went somewhat differently. Char Seeman, who is the co-chair of the association with Heather Woodhouse, said that there were a lot of monetary donations. The monetary donations were awesome, the actual toy donations were down. We did buy between 70 and 80 per cent of the toys with the monetary donations we got, Seeman said. Volunteers said that shopping for toys was fun and a bit tricky, as getting gifts for about 400 children required a lot of imagination. When volunteers started running out of ideas they ended up asking friends about what their kids get or want for Christmas. But after all, they were very grateful for the support and donations of all types.
Danny Blackburn of Blackburn Well Service and Chris Scholpp of Red Line Well Service Ltd., both Estevan oilfield companies, decided to do something about it. “We thought it would be a good idea this Christmas, seeing that everything is kind of down in the economy, and we knew the Angel Tree would be hurting more than ever for donations,” Blackburn said, referring to Estevan Community Hamper and Angel Tree, which is hosted by St. Giles Anglican Church. “Everybody s getting affected by this, right? So, unfortunately the Angel Tree is hurting and they re hurting even more because they can’t get donations, because the guys that are willing to donate, maybe their businesses are running 25 per cent of what it was.
Hamper recipients with a child or children will get to select a toy for each child. When people purchase their toys for the Angel Tree from Your Toy Store & More, they receive a discount. Support for the Angel Tree is part of the Mercury’s Win Your Christmas Wish List promotion. It’s not too late to enter the contest; the deadline to enter is Dec. 15 at 11:59 p.m. To enter, list the items you want from local businesses. Entry forms can be found at www.estevanmercury.ca or in this week’s edition of the Mercury. (Wish list value limit is $1,000).