CHRISTMAS JOY FOR ALL
Give back to overlooked segment of population, Alex Singleton says
Calgary Stampeders linebacker Alex Singleton shares his Grey Cup celebration with sister Ashley, who was born with Down syndrome. Singleton writes that charities such as the Herald Christmas Fund help spread joy to sometimes overlooked people.
Alex Singleton, the Calgary Stampeders linebacker shares his memories of celebrating Christmas with parents Steve and Kim and siblings Ashley, Melissa and Matt, while also explaining his mom’s mission to help spread the Christmas spirit. Ashley, who was born with Down syndrome, is an athlete in her own right in addition to being Alex’s biggest fan.
Christmas is the biggest time of year for our family because Ashley loves Christmas and looks forward to it so much. She doesn’t sleep at all.
Every year, we rotate who sleeps in her room with her because you know you’re not going to sleep that night; you’re just going to have to talk about Christmas memories from the last 25 years.
Christmas is still a huge thing for my family — decorating the tree every year, putting up the same ornaments in the same places. My dad puts about 50 blow-ups in our front yard or on our house.
We still get tons of presents — Santa really fills our stockings and Ashley still wakes us up at 6 a.m. to go see what Santa brought.
Every year, it’s still the full Christmas and the most amazing thing in the world.
My mom does an amazing job spreading the joy of Christmas around to others, too.
There are disabled adults who may have no other family, so they don’t get anything for Christmas.
Four years ago, my mom started doing this huge fundraiser back home in California for Arc, where Ashley goes to work. Sometimes, all the people want is a T-shirt or a colouring book — the most basic little thing that they ask for Christmas is all they ever want.
With the fires in the Thousand Oaks, Calif., area this year, some of the individuals had major health or living issues, so the program was more important than ever.
There are about 40 to 50 people that she works with and my mom has made sure the last four years that everyone makes up a wish list and they get the first thing on their list.
You get your PS4s and that sort of thing but you also get a 60-year-old with Down syndrome asking for a new colouring book or the most basic crayon set.
All they want is something that is new and fun to them.
It’s just the opportunity to give back to a segment of the population that gets overlooked, that most people would assume has someone there for them.
Someone has to do it and my mom doing that opens that Christmas spirit back up.
As much as my mom has always done for us, to see her work so hard and go out of her way for other people who are like my sister or who are friends with her is amazing and heartwarming. Just to see the smile on someone’s face who gets remembered at Christmas is the greatest joy at this time of the year.
To donate, call 403-235-7481 or go to calgaryherald.com/christmasfund, where you’ll also find more stories about the fund. MONEY RAISED TO DATE: $270,911.00