Campaign to help families at Christmas makes big jump thanks to kind donors

Our Starphoenix elves are busy with envelopes, running tallies, and big-hearted donors as Christmas zips into its final week of preparation.

Sporting Christmas makes a big jump today, thanks in large part to Rick and Laurie Hopkinson, whose generous giving to a variety of meaningful causes makes Saskatoon a better place to live. Rick stopped by the office in 2012 and wrote a cheque, and they’ve been there for us every year since — and 2018 is no exception.

Thanks to that $15,000 gift, many, many families across Saskatoon get a Christmas to remember, because a donation to Sporting Christmas both alleviates hunger and provides gifts for the kids.

As Calvin Carr — both a past hamper recipient, and longtime Salvation Army volunteer — told me recently:

“In my opinion, it’s the look on the kids’ faces when they wake up to a big breakfast, a big supper, then sitting there going ‘I’m full; I can’t move; I can’t even play with my toys, because my belly’s full,’ he said.

“And it’s nice when you can sit there, and watch your kid open a Christmas present you know you might not have been able to afford. But you got it from somewhere that helped you get that.”

That somewhere is the Salvation Army.

It’s thanks to people like you that they can do the work they do, for families who otherwise can’t enjoy the kind of Christmas staples so many of us take for granted.

“We continue to remember friends and families affected by the Humboldt bus accident,” writes Cameco’s Tim Gitzel, who with wife Bonnie sends a much-appreciated donation our way today.

Peter Zacharias, the Kinsmen athlete of the year in 1970, is remembered today by Isabel, Glen, Garry, Shelly and Canute, and we also heard from the Dogs of War slo-pitch team, Gerard Tetreault — who every year remembers family members who have passed on — and a host of others.

“A tradition at Christmas from our house to yours,” write Judy and Blaine Knoll, and a fine tradition it is.

Donations are welcomed with open arms as we continue our drive to aid the Salvation Army.

To give online, please visit thestarphoenix.com/sportingchristmas and click the donation link, or stop at our downtown office and leave your donation at our front desk (if you arrive before noon), or in the slot inside the front doors. You can also mail to:

Sporting Christmas c/o The Starphoenix

204 Fifth Ave. North, Saskatoon, Sask.

S7K 2P1

Thanks to today’s Santas:

Memory of my good friends and ■ friends of sport in Saskatoon, Ken Lozinsky, Cam Smith, Peter Clark, Jay Sim, from Glen Zacharias: $100 ■ Morrison from Marla Morrison: $500

Memory of Maurice, George,

■

Raymond and Brian Lessard: $30

Memory of Larry Lynch, Dave

■

Kidd, Johnny Yano and Wayne Yanz — four friends and golf partners. Missed by Peter Nicholson: $200

Anonymous: $50

■

Memory of our daughter Allyson

■

Schwab from Don and Margaret Schwab: $100

Piya Sen: $75

■

Memory of the members of

■ the Bernard Tetreault family, deceased (d/m/y) — Father Bernard (11/03/67), Mother Edith (24/09/04), Brother Edward (15/11/94), Sister-in-law Annella (23/08/01), Sister Jeannette (15/07/04), Wife Barbara (03/06/02), from Gerard Tetreault: $300

Loving memory of Peter Korthuis

■ from his family: $200

Memory of Gordon Turner, Tom

■

Bruce, Joffre Turner and Dustin Maciver from Pamela Turner: $75

Memory of Susan Anderson and

■

Aaron Walsh from Patrick and Dian Walsh: $100

Today’s total: $18,740

TOTAL TO DATE: $59,057.11