‘Helping the working poor’
Friendly Neighbours gearing up for this year’s Christmas hampers
When Jack Beaudin first started Friendly Neighbours in 1968, the group put together fewer than a dozen Christmas hampers for local families in need.
This year, director Eric Wood is preparing for 275.
“One of my favourite stories is we got a call for an individual who needed help and we supplied him with a hamper and what have you and, the following Christmas, he showed up on our doorstep with six turkeys and said, ‘thanks very much for the help, but I don’t need help this year’,” says Wood.
Wood has been involved with the registered charity since the early 1980s, when Beaudin, who knew Wood from being posted at CFB Greenwood, asked him to pick up furniture with his truck. When Wood retired, he returned to the area with his wife, Rachelle, and took over running the charity in 1991.
“When it was coming time to retire, I took a drive across Canada and we stopped at several places to see about retiring. And Greenwood and Nova Scotia came out number one. A lot of it is because of the cost, and the community efforts is another one.”
Friendly Neighbours is very much a community effort.
Though they no longer collect furniture, they continue to supply boxes of toys and clothing, as well as holiday meals, for families in need. Run by a small group throughout the year, they enlist the help of many volunteers when it comes time to put the boxes and hampers together.
When Friendly Neighbours was just beginning, it was a small operation and the day of packing hampers would go until 3 a.m., Wood says. Now it’s more streamlined, taking place over two days, with a lot of assistance. This year, they’ll be packing up the boxes on
Dec. 19 and 20.
On the first day, approximately 17 volunteers from Beehive Adult Service Centre and the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Waterville, as well as other community members, organize all of the food in order. On the second day, approximately 30 military personnel from CFB Greenwood pack 23 items, enough for Christmas dinner and breakfast for a family, into each box in about an hour-and-a-half.
To prepare for the boxes of toys and clothing, the group watches for sales throughout the year and stocks up when they’re cheap. A typical box might include pajamas, shirts, pants, slippers, toys specific to a child’s age, school supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and handmade mittens — which are often donated by local knitters.
Wood says he continues to be involved because he believes in what they do.
“The part of it I like most is helping the working poor. A lot of organizations do Christmas hampers, but you have to be on welfare to get one, and the working poor gets moved to the side.”
The organization is supported through the Christmas Mommies and Daddies Telethon in Aylesford, which raised more than $20,000 this year.
Applications were available at many local stores between Coldbrook and Kingston beginning in November. The applications were due back Dec. 6 and will be reviewed by one of four local Lions Clubs — Coldbrook, Berwick, Aylesford, and Kingston.
“They’re looked at by the Lions Club because I don’t know the families that live in Coldbrook. But the Lions do. They’re in the community. They scrutinize the applications and make sure people who say they want a hamper deserve a hamper.”
On the day of distribution, families pick up their hampers and boxes at their local Lions Club.