This past Tuesday we heard from Leslie Cleary from the Edmonton Riverview Rotary club who spoke about the Rotary Santa Clothes program. This is a program that originated with the Las Vegas Rotary club, in 1998.
Three years ago, the Edmonton South Rotary club decided to do a similar thing in Edmonton. They have partnered with other local rotary clubs, the Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Club of Edmonton. The Old Navy store at West Edmonton Mall provides the shopping experience, with extra staff who volunteer their time, and provides an additional fifty percent discount on all items in the store. The goal of the program this year is to provide two hundred dollars worth (four hundred with discount) of new winter clothes and shoes for at least one hundred elementary age students from needy families in Edmonton.
The clubs in conjunction with the United Way program of ‘All in for You’ helped in the selection of four Edmonton schools from which the children are chosen. The chosen schools this year are Tipaskin, Delton, St. Alphonsus and John A. McDougall. The children prepare a list of items they would like to have that will fit into the allotted budget. Various rotary clubs provide over one hundred volunteers who act as chaperones on the buses and personal shopping assistants for the children. Each child has one person assigned to help them with their shopping.
The event takes place on the first Sunday morning in November. The children are bused from their respective schools to West Edmonton Mall where they meet their personal shopping assistants. The store dedicates this time slot for this group alone. The children make their selections with the help of their volunteer assistants and their purchases are bagged and labelled. Their bags are held for them and returned to them just before they leave for home. They are then treated to a private marine life experience and then are taken to the Fantasyland Hotel for a pizza lunch. Their bags are then returned to them and they are bused back to their respective schools. Edmonton South Rotary has committed to cover the cost for fifty students and is looking for volunteers and sponsors to cover costs for shopping and lunch, the marine life experience and bus transport. They have both individual and group packages available.
This program gives us an opportunity for us to have an impact on the children in our community and to demonstrate the rotary belief that ‘We Care and We Share’.
