‘A BIG DIFFERENCE’
Jolson Lim and his sister are grateful for their packages from the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund,
One December, when he was 9 years old, Jolson Lim made a multicoloured Christmas tree out of Lego because his family didn’t have one.
His mother and father, who had moved to Toronto from Malaysia in 1987, didn’t have much money for gifts or decorations. But Jolson was too young to understand his parents’ situation. He only knew that one of his friends had a giant Christmas tree — and he usually got tons of presents.
So, hoping for more presents, he built his own tree out of Lego blocks and put it in the corner of his living room, in the three-bedroom house in Leslieville where he lived with his older sister, parents and two aunts. But it didn’t work. “I’m pretty sure my parents knew about the whole thing about Santa Claus and what parents do, but I don’t think they were able to do that with the money they had,” he said.
“When they saw my disappointment on Christmas morning, I think they were probably pretty sad about that.”
But in addition to a little gift from their parents, Jolson and his sister could usually count on a parcel from the Toronto Star’s Santa Claus Fund.
Now in its 109th year, the charity drive aims to raise money for gift boxes for thousands of underprivileged kids across the GTA.
The boxes usually arrived at the Lims’ door a week and a half before Christmas. Jolson and his sister opened them on the spot, sometimes swapping toys. He remembers getting a board game, a warm toque,
“When they saw my disappointment on Christmas morning, I think they were probably pretty sad about that.” JOLSON LIM
clothes, toys and candy.
“My parents tried to provide everything they could for me and my sister,” Jolson said. “I think they were really happy about the help they received.”
In their first years in Canada, his father worked as an immigration consultant for a law firm across town, and his mother stayed home to look after the kids. They now live in an apartment in Scarborough. His father is semi-retired and his mother works in a daycare. His sister graduated from Queen’s University with a commerce degree and works in marketing in Singapore.
Jolson is in his third year of the journalism program at Carleton University and is getting by on a student loan, scholarships and his small salary as national editor of the campus paper, the Charlatan.
He was the editor of his high school paper, too, at Riverdale Collegiate. After a labour dispute put a halt to extracurricular activities, he made sure the presses kept running. He won a Toronto Star High School Newspaper award last year.
He says he’s grateful for the Star boxes. “It really has an impact on children in Toronto,” he said. “A pretty small thing like that can make a big difference.” If you have been touched by the Santa Claus Fund or have a story to tell, please email santaclausfund@thestar.ca.