(COURTESY JOY CANADIAN)
(COURTESY BROOKLYN JOSEPH)
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Community member Joy Canadian recently partnered with Village Variety and other motivated women to start a fundraising initiative in support of local families during the holidays.
Together, they hope to donate toys and gifts to families that need the assistance, especially this year.
The fundraiser is twofold.
First, Village Variety will display a giant Christmas tree beautifully-decorated with individualized ornaments in their store. Each ornament will have a description of a gift that a child wants, their age, gender and hobby.
Customers will then be able to choose an ornament, shop around the store for the gifts that might suit the specific description, and purchase them at the cash, where Canadian will then pick them up and deliver them to the families.
Perhaps like someone else we know that delivers Christmas presents every year……
“I found on social media, a few families talking about how they are going to be having a hard time this Christmas, and getting their children their presents,” said Canadian.
For the second part of the fundraiser, Canadian is teaming up with Brooklyn Joseph, Kaylea Curotte and Sarah Taylor, who are all consultants for Usborne Books, an international publisher and multi-level marketing company.
Consultants host ‘book parties’ where they make commissions and receive free books the more they sell.
“I’m having an online virtual book party with my best friend, Sarah Taylor. Whenever she has a book party, a lot of books sell,” said Canadian.
All of the free books and rewards that the ladies receive from their book parties will then be donated to the fundraiser.
“Everyone is having an extra hard time this year,” said Joseph, who met Canadian through the book parties. “Especially when it comes to Christmas. I think it will be hard for people to go shopping like they usually do,” she added.
Thus far, five families with 21 children will benefit from the fundraiser.
Canadian said that she will accumulate the gifts for every child in each family before presenting them to the parents to hide away until Christmas.
Canadian hopes that her partnership with Village Variety will also encourage people to shop Kahnawake and support local businesses rather than giant corporations.
She specified that she is not accepting cash donations.
The ladies are promoting the fundraiser on social media, along with ad space donated by The Eastern Door, and Canadian said that people have already started contacting her.
“I also have been getting an overwhelming amount of emails giving thanks. It’s been very emotional,” she said.
Her family and friends have also shown an incredible amount of support and have offered their assistance with the fundraiser.
“I’m still accepting families to help take care of. But I’m only helping more families when I complete this five-family registry.
“This is my second year as a mother. I just saw my son in those children that needed help getting presents and I just couldn’t stand the thought of children in this town going without Christmas,” said Canadian, through tears.
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