Last year a good friend of mine asked me if I wanted to be part of a project she was working on wherein she would collect donations from friends and family in order to make Christmas presents for the homeless people of downtown Vancouver. Me, loving a challenge and organizing events happily agreed to help. Little did I know the profound change this Project Christmas would have on my life.
Working downtown, I see the homeless problem our city has and too often we brush it aside as "oh they're addicted to drugs and they did this to themselves" so we don't have to learn why this happened to them. Why someone's child ended up living in a wet cardboard box in an alley.
The leading cause of homelessness is not drug addiction, but poverty. Being that Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, it makes sense that we would see a large homeless population. People with no skills or advantages could easily fall through the cracks; Making $8.75/hr (our minimum wage) is not enough to keep up with the cost of living in Vancouver. If you would like to read more on this topic, please visit Stop Homelessness.
So back to my story... We knew that the two of us couldn't solve the homelessness problem with small donations from friends and family alone. We decided to focus our efforts on bringing joy to those who do not get to experience it around the holidays like we do. To open ONE Christmas present is something that I generally did not hold in such high regard. Selfish admission: If I get ONE Christmas gift, I'd be looking for the rest of them.
We were able to make 160 gifts, and donate a large amount of clothing as well. The people that received these gifts were beyond thankful as many of them had not opened a gift in years. I really hope this year we can grow this project into something bigger and have an impact on more people. Project Christmas helped me understand kindness on a whole other level, and I'm really happy I was able to be a part of it.
"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty." - Mother Teresa.