Early Christmas

Christmas came 10 days early for students at Our Lady of Charity School on Wednesday.
 
All 190 students at the school were the beneficiary of a Christmas Miracle, thanks to the generosity of a small, but resourceful group of Lakehead University students who raised the money to pay for a present for each and every child at the elementary school.

Selicia Joseph, who brought the concept to the university from her high school, said the idea behind the program is to help out students in financial need, those most at risk not to receive a Christmas gift this year.

“I just loved the feeling of helping out students in my community. It was something that we decided to bring to Lakehead University to get the university involved with the Thunder Bay community,” she said.
 
Six weeks and one nine-hour wrapping party later, the reaction of the children and the Catholic District School Board institution was plenty enough payback for the effort put forth.
 
“It definitely almost brought me to tears listening to them say thank you. It felt so good, just seeing their eyes opening up their gifts. It’s been a long couple of months, so just to see the looks on their faces was enough to make it all worth it,” Joseph said.

Presents ranged from dolls and stuffed animals to board games and other toys, enough to keep Santa’s elves occupied for weeks.

Amy Romito didn’t spend quite that much time on the project, but the Grade 6 teacher did help coordinate things at the school, and said it was worth every minute.

Not every child is fortunate enough to find presents under the tree, and couldn’t thank the Lakehead University Students Union events committee enough for everything they did.

Each student was asked to submit a gift request. Teachers went over the requests and formulated a list.

“They came to visit us today and the kids have been so excited about it,” Romito said. “For this particular community it’s a great initiative because we have a lot of children who are from needy families. This was a great way to welcome home the meaning of Christmas and just embrace the holiday spirit.”

Six-year-old Mattias McKinnon was all smiles when he tore open his Lego set.

“I felt good about it and happy,” he said, shying away from the attention.
Classmate was equally excited at his gifts.

“I got two Transformers and Pokemon cards and I felt really happy,” he said.