Every year since he has been at the Morrisburg Canadian Tire store, owner Michel Proulx and his staff have made a tradition of handing out Christmas donations to a handful of local charities.
Monday, Proulx, who will be leaving this store for a larger store in Niagara Falls in February, made his final holiday donations.
“This will be the last one for me, but hopefully not the last for these charities,” said Proulx, hoping that this tradition of giving will be one that is continued by the new store owner.
The largest share of the $11,000 went to the Dundas County Food Bank, who received $5,000.
Terry Triskle was thrilled with the donation.
Although many holiday food drives and cash donations have helped the food bank recently, only a few weeks ago the food bank was in the red, overspending their food budget.
“This year, the amount of food we are giving out is way up,” said Triskle. Even higher than the past couple of years which have seen annual increases.
The local Jumpstart committee received $3,000 to help local children in need participate in sport.
“This has been a record year for Jumpstart,” said David Lapier of the Jumpstart committee.
“We’ve supported about 100 kids this year. Michel (Proulx) is a great supporter of Jumpstart and a great supporter of the community.”
Naomi’s House and the South Dundas Christmas Exchange each received $1,250, to help provide help for those in need during the holidays.
Naomi’s has a Christmas room where families who have accessed Naomi’s services can shop for their family members at no cost.
The South Dundas Christmas Exchange provides Christmas baskets, which include everything for a Christmas dinner, to those in need.
“This year we have 171 families and 31 singles registered for baskets,” said organizer Carol Richer.
The final $500 was donated to the Lions Angel Tree. Bob Bechard of the Morrisburg and District Lions Club accepted the donation on behalf of the club. He explained that the trees allow the community to buy Christmas gifts for those children, who may not otherwise get a gift.
The angel trees are organized by Wayne and Jane Domanko, and Bechard reported that the Morrisburg Angel tree will provide gifts to 201 children this Christmas.
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