Santa brings cheer to Charleswood kids with ill mom

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This article was published 24/12/2021 (1404 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SANTA has stepped in to bring cheer to a Winnipeg family after a rough start to their holiday season.

Local hamper program Charleswood Cheer delivered dozens of packages of food, clothing and craft supplies to a Charleswood family Thursday afternoon.

Family matriarch Theresa, watched and worried as her daughter, a student and single mother of two daughters, struggled to make ends meet. Then, her daughter had to be hospitalized this week and the girls, ages 12 and nine, went to live with their grandmother.

That wasn’t all that came the family’s way Thursday afternoon. Santa showed up to the home to meet the kids, hand out hot chocolate and candy canes, and take pictures with the family.

“I’m trying to hold it together for them, but I just had to break down and cry, because there’s just so much, there’s so much for them,” Theresa, who asked her last name and her family’s names not be used, told the Free Press Thursday.

This type of kindness is typical in Charleswood, Theresa said, and she would continue the cycle of paying it forward the same way she and her family has in the past.

“When I was working, I would always buy food for the homeless, or sometimes I’d go buy a tin of coffee or a bag of burgers and just pass it along … it all comes out of kindness,” she said. “There’s no restriction when stuff is done from your heart. There’s no expectations, it’s just what’s done.”

Lianne Tregobov is a matchmaker by trade and by passion – owner of local service Camelot Introductions, which set up up Charleswood Cheer, which matches sponsors to people in need.

“It’s basically all about Christmas, it’s strangers banding together to enrich the lives of others,” she told the Free Press Thursday.

After starting it last year, there was no turning back for Tregobov. This holiday season over 70 families have received hampers.

“There’s some families that have 15 people, there’s some families who have two or three, there are families who last year were recipients because of trying times and this year are sponsors who are paying it forward, which is beautiful,” she said.

Stacy Wyatt was one of the two sponsors of the family’s hamper. She was inspired in part by the family’s love for crafts – the mother and her two daughters sell homemade beading and jewelry.

“Obviously it’s a tough time for them and I wanted to help out with that, so I bought a bunch of crafting supplies … I tried to spoil them a little,” she said.

Wyatt hesitates when asked what she’d say to others who might be interested in taking part in a similar program – she acknowledged that times are especially tough for many people, but stressed that if you can give, it’s worth it.

“I think if you’re in a position where it’s the difference between you having a few extra items under the tree, or other people having nothing under the tree or on Christmas morning, consider giving up a few of your extra things to make a difference for someone’s family,” she said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca