By Kayla Bruch

Volunteers help homeless during Christmas season

Dec 15, 2014 | 4:27 PM

On Monday, six women came together in the spirit of Christmas to help Prince Albert’s homeless population in a small way.

The women from the Helping Hand Group hosted their first official get-together at the Prince Albert Métis Women’s Association.

During the gathering, they provided food and juice and handed out clothing to people in need.

“It’s been a success and seeing the smile on their faces when they leave,” said one Helping Hand Group volunteer, Carrie Pederson, about the event.

The six volunteers set out three weeks ago with a goal in mind, never expecting it to gain as much interest as it did.

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“Soup, buns, bannock was our goal I guess, and then it turned out to be a lot bigger than it is, like you should see the clothes in there, I was shocked,” said Pederson.

Pederson said the idea for the group started when one of her friends shared her food with a local charity.

“She had a whole bunch of leftover food one day and she thought ‘oh hey, let’s give because of the Christmas season,’” said Pederson. “She went to Our House actually and fed them there and she just said the look on their face and how ecstatic they were … was an eye-opener for her.”  

After Pederson’s friend had that experience, the group started a Facebook page, which almost instantly started to generate donations from Buffalo Narrows and from around Prince Albert.

“We got clothes donations and money like (as soon as possible) ASAP and we were pretty shocked, so then we thought ‘hey we’ll get together this group to feed and clothe the less fortunate.’”

There are many less fortunate people in Prince Albert and Pederson said if these people are sleeping outside, at least their group can provide them with a warm coat and gloves.

“We’ve all been around P.A. long enough or anywhere and seen that there’s a lot of people that could use the help out there,” she said.

Pederson said the over 40 people who attended the gathering on Monday were very appreciative, so they are planning to host another get-together next month, where they hope to serve turkey.

Kayla Chartier, Deirdre Chartier, Lesley Clarke, Carrie Pederson, Eryn Hansen and Steffanie Ericson are the six women who formed the Helping Hand Group.

For more about the group, check out their Facebook page.

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1