A kindergarten student receives a gift from a member of the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT

P.A. Kinsmen Club wraps up another year for annual Christmas project at local schools

Dec 21, 2023 | 3:00 PM

It’s become an annual Christmas tradition for the Prince Albert Kinsmen Club as hundreds of local kids were given an early gift.

Volunteers helped wrap, pack and hand out roughly 500 gifts for students at four local schools this week.

On Thursday, The Kinsmen went to their final school, St. John Community School, where members gave presents of toques, scarves, and gloves to kids from Kindergarten through Grade 3.

The Kinsmen came into each classroom, dressed in their personalized Kinsmen hockey jerseys that they wear at their different fundraising events.

Joel Devers, the Secretary for the Prince Albert club, told each classroom why the Kinsmen Club is so important and why they fundraise for so many initiatives in the city.

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Jared Devers (left) speaks to kids at St. John Community School. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

He told the kids that he and his fellow Kinsmen were on a mission from Santa Claus, who was extremely busy getting ready for Christmas, and that he needed some extra help to hand out some early gifts.’

Each kid was given a wrapped gift which they happily and very quickly opened. They were all astonished to get a new pair of warm, cosy gloves and stylish toques for their heads, to protect themselves when the weather turns more wintery and colder.

After all the classrooms were visited and the kids said their thank yous to the Kinsmen, Devers talked about how this project first started seven years ago. They were in talks with local social workers about what they could do to help some of the kids in Prince Albert.

“They told us that toques and mitts are probably the most lost and most needed thing that kids have,” he said. “They show up when it’s -40, -30 without proper toques and mitts or they don’t have any, or they lose them often.”

Every year, they work with Montreal-based company Hot Paws in supplying winter wear for all of the students.

When mentioning the kids’ reactions every time they open these gifts, Devers said that feeling never gets old.

“Watching these kids get to open up something a little bit before Christmas and build some Christmas cheer, if it doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what does.”

Devers is hopeful that they can continue this tradition in the years to come, as long as the need is there, and they continue to fundraise throughout the year.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com