Staff collects letters for Santa from kids and teens in need
Teams of elves from our CIUSSS have been deployed on a merry mission this season: Ensuring that every child can experience the joy of a gift over the holidays.
The elves are members of youth teams across our network who have been hard at work to ensure that vulnerable young clients aren’t forgotten at holiday time. Now their efforts are coming to fruition: In the coming days and weeks, our staff will be delivering thousands of presents from Santa to children and youth in need.
The generosity is made possible thanks to our CIUSSS’s collaboration with Opération Père Noël, a foundation that obtains gifts for children who would not otherwise receive one. Beginning in October, employees from the Frontline, Mental Health and Rehabilitation directorates identify vulnerable young people, and then ensure the children’s wish lists reach Santa’s workshop.
The children write Santa a letter. Then the team at Opération Père Noël, relying on volunteers and generous donors, sets out to fulfill each child’s wish.
One year, a child asked Santa for a bouquet of flowers to place on his mother’s grave. Opération Père Noël provided the bouquet —and arranged for transportation to take the child to the cemetery.
“A gift makes every child happy,” says Julien Hamelin, a Social Worker in the Youth at Risk program who has been involved in Opération Père Noël for a decade.
“This is a way to create a positive connection with members of our clientele, who are often struggling.”
Julien Hamelin, Social Worker
Staff from the Côte-des-Neiges, Parc-Extension and Métro CLSCs collected and relayed 800 letters this year from vulnerable young people who participate in such programs as Children, Families and Youth and Youth at Risk, as well as programs for those living with autism spectrum disorders and mental health conditions.
Some letters are penned by their parents, who ask Santa for items like diapers, winter coats or mittens for their children. With many asylum seekers and immigrant families in our CIUSSS territory, gifts for the holidays sometimes consist of the basic necessities of life.
“Life is hard for these families,” Mr. Hamelin says. “Sometimes, it’s not about toys, it’s about survival.”
Mr. Hamelin, the Elf-in-Chief for Opération Père Noël at the Côte-des-Neiges, Parc-Extension and Métro CLSCs, relies on the support of a team of elves at sites across the network. This year, his support elves are:
- Sylvain Thériault, Bryan Dallaire-Tellier, Maria Chica and Eloi Fiat Kaze at CLSC Côte-des-Neiges
- Jaimie Byrne, Valérie Grenier, Gabriela Fillion, Ariane Bergeron and Marie-Ève Sénéchal at CLSC Parc-Extension
- Jessica Perreault Howarth and Yana Melnikov at CLSC Métro
- Caroline Smisek and Nathalie Cortez from the Healthy Schools Program.
The gift-giving initiative is also supported by teams from CLSC de Benny Farm, PRAIDA and La Maison Bleue, among others.
Over the coming weeks, Mr. Hamelin and others will distribute the presents to each child, the gifts representing their commitment to making this time of year a little brighter for those who depend on their care. “I see so much joy in their eyes, and in their parents’ eyes too,” Mr. Hamelin says. “This is such a positive way to finish the year.”