Dear editor,
Santa’s Workshop helped make 453 children and 76 grandchildren of the Comox Valley smile and be very happy on Christmas Day 2022.
A total of 206 families registered and shopped for their children, along with 33 grandparents who also shopped for their grandkids. As well, we had one “superwoman” in shopping for 32 children from her small island community. Now, that’s dedication, love and caring wrapped up in one person. Our “bike elves” refurbished so many bikes, making them all “like new” and 200 bikes were given out. All in all, it was another very successful season.
So many thanks go out to Comox Valley residents for their great financial support since we rely solely on donations. To those people who donated both new and used gifts – thank you. Some of you brought in cards and “goodies” for our elves to enjoy, how thoughtful of you, and you can be assured they were enjoyed by all of us “sweet-toothed elves.”
This past season from Nov. 1 -Dec. 22, our “elves” logged in approximately 3,138 volunteer hours to make this all happen. This number gives one a good idea of the dedication put into making the workshop available for our Comox Valley children. Koodos to all our “elves”- you are amazing and the best of the best.
A huge thanks also to the business locations who took a “drop box.” We do appreciate your assistance, and hope we can continue to make many locations work for us again in the future.
Huge bouquets of poinsettias and thanks also go to the following for their assistance: Ashcroft & Associates Inc, Sasha Rasovic & Brad Walton-owners Newport Village, ICBC Community Grants Program, Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society, Canadian Tire, Harold Long, Comox Valley Lions Club, Dennis Aitken, employees @ The Old Farm Market-Courtenay, Comox Valley Record newspaper, Heine von Schilling, D.Bell Designs, The Morning Show at CFOX Radio Station, Royal Canadian Legion Br #160, Courtenay Family Chiropractic & Orthotics, Comox Rotary Club, Wayne Kennedy, Comox Valley Monarch Lions Club, and Hakai Energy Solutions Inc.
It takes a community to make a good project like this work well, and we applaud all our Comox Valley residents for their generosity, caring and assistance in helping make Santa’s Workshop so successful. When we all work together, we show proof of the great “community spirit” we have here in our Comox Valley.
Thanks so much to you all, from the 2022 Santa’s Workshop elves.