Helping less fortunate made lasting impression
Almost 40 years ago, a hockey coach made an impression on a young player that will have an impact on many needy families this holiday season.
Allan Lou was a teenager in east-end Toronto who enjoyed playing for the Arrows at Ted Reeve Arena, on Main St. at Gerrard St. E.
One day, the coach told his players: “Come here on a Saturday, you’re going to do this.’”
By “this,” he meant delivering Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund parcels to chil- dren in need. Lou said it was an eyeopener that Christmas season.
“That was exactly it. Sometimes you just don’t know what’s out there,” he recalled.
“When you go and do the deliveries and see some of the people that are getting the gift boxes, it kind of hits close to home,” .
“You deliver within your own neighbourhood and some of the people you may know ... from school or from other activities,” he said.
“It still has an impression on me. I still remember that. The charity is very worthwhile because it’s all for children.” Now an IT manager at Northbridge Insurance, which has 1,500 employees, Lou said he thought of the Santa Claus Fund when he and his colleagues were discussing volunteer work.
“Northbridge has a team volunteer day where you can go out and work at different charities,” he said.
“I was talking to the team and I said: ‘Hey, let’s do volunteer day.’ Some other charities were bounced around and then I brought up the Toron- to Star (Santa Claus Fund) and it worked out for everybody. That’s the one we chose.”
Lou said it was “very rewarding ” for them to spend a Wednesday packing gift parcels for children.
“People got a lot of enjoyment giving back and some of the people also said they’re going to volunteer with their families at the Toronto Star (Santa Claus Fund) in their free time,” he said. The Santa Claus Fund was started in 1906 by Toronto Star founder, Joseph E. Atkinson, who grew up in poverty.
When his father was killed in an accident, his widowed mother was left with eight young children to raise. That meant the family often had to go without.
Atkinson never forgot the generosity of a stranger who bought him skates after she spotted him wistfully watching other children on the ice one winter day and asked why he wasn’t playing.
Years later, he founded the Santa Claus Fund to ensure other less fortunate kids could share the happiness he felt at getting a present at Christmas.
As Lou can attest — that spirit keeps on giving.
“No child should go without a gift at Christmas,” he said.
“It’s a very worthwhile thing. That’s why it stuck with me for all these years.” Due to disruptions at Canada Post, we ask donors to please consider calling our hotline or visiting our website to make your contributions. Thank you. If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.
“It still has an impression on me. I still remember that. The charity is very worthwhile because it’s all for children.” ALLAN LOU SANTA CLAUS FUND VOLUNTEER