Etobicoke kids step up to brighten the holidays
Norseman Junior Middle School students buy candygrams to help Star’s Santa Claus Fund
The orderly line of Grade 2 and 3 students timidly approaching the first candygram table to pay for their sweets quickly evolves into an impenetrable mass as the students circle around a second table, carefully printing the names of treat recipients.
At Norseman Junior Middle School, Grade 8 students are taking the reins on helping to raise money for the Star’s Santa Claus Fund through candygram sales, a decade-long tradition at the Etobicoke school.
And who are many of the candygrams going to?
“Myself . . . (because) I like candy,” said David Pasternak, 7, neatly printing his name on both pink- and orange-coloured slips, the paper colour representing one of several different flavours of candy canes.
Of the 20 candygrams sold to the students just after lunch break on Thursday, at least half had the same names scribbled in the “To” and “From” spaces.
Children and student volunteers who spoke to the Star on Thursday said they were happy to donate and help in their school’s fundraiser.
Thanks to the fundraiser’s success this year, Norseman hopes to double last year’s donation and make a $500 contribution to the Santa Fund, said principal Carolyn Wright.
“It’s important to recognize that there are those who need support right in our city, and in our own neighbourhood,” Wright said.
Established in 1906, the Star Santa Claus Fund is a charity initiative that provides and delivers Christmas gifts to 45,000 underprivileged children aged newborn to 12 across Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax and Pickering. The presents are deliv- ered by teams of volunteers.
Recipients receive a gift box with a warm shirt (toddlers get a fleecelined tracksuit while newborn infants get a five-piece set that includes onesies), a warm hat, warm gloves or mittens, socks, a toy, a book, cookies and dental hygiene items (aged 4 and up) inside.
It’s the only present many of the kids will receive this holiday season, which is why the gift boxes aim to cover the basics and then some.
“It’s really heartbreaking to hear that some kids in the same area don’t even get a present for Christmas, so that’s why I’m volunteering,” said Katie Cameron, a Grade 8 volunteer.
Also on the volunteer team was Daniel Oh, whose class just finished doing a global novel study that explored themes of poverty.
“I really feel good that I can actually be part of something that will help a lot of people,” he said.
As teachers ushered in the younger students to purchase their $2 candygrams, volunteers pointed to the colour-coded slips that matched with this year’s flavours: peach, strawberry, peppermint, raspberry and, the most popular, cherry.
After the candygram sales wrapped up Friday, the students were to begin the arduous task of pairing the colourful slips with the right candies and delivering them to the classrooms.
Josi Thomson, a Grade 8 science teacher and staff adviser on the fundraiser, calls it the “candygram factory.”
Toting two cookie tins filled with the paper slips and money, Thomson said the students feel “great excitement” when the sweets are divided in the classrooms, but are also proud to participate in raising money for a cause.
“They’re very involved. I find that at this age, they feel really strongly about the underprivileged, about people who don’t have as much as they do, and they want to help,” she said.
Nicole Paterson said she feels really fortunate in her life and knows that many kids won’t get as much as she does on Christmas, but hopes that everybody can have a gift this year.
“I think it’s awesome that people give gifts to people that they don’t really know personally,” she said. If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.