E. L. Crossley student Emily Bonisteel is all smiles delivering Christmas Cheer packages. SUPPLIED PHOTO
BY KAYE CHANG
E.L. Crossley Correspondent
It’s that time of year again, when Christmas Cheer has come and gone at E.L Crossley Secondary School. Twenty-eight classes, over the past month, have been contributing a number of generous donations to less fortunate families through the Salvation Army.
The caring students of Crossley collected $400-worth of presents, gift cards and canned goods for their assigned families.
Mrs. Chcoski, the organizer of Christmas Cheer at Crossley, proudly stated that, “The school has been supporting one-third of the Salvation Army’s families every Christmas for over 20 years. I like to think that we fulfill an important need in the community.”
She added that a vital contributor involved with Christmas Cheer was local business owner Rick Lowe. Due to Lowe’s perishable food donations, fresh meat and other produce was widely distributed to the families, to ensure that they had a proper meal come Christmas.
Chcoski, beyond being an avid Christmas Cheer supporter, is also in charge of the school’s Interact club.
On the 20th of December, members of Interact helped deliver all of the food and gift items to Holy Trinity Church in Welland.
A participant who was able to deliver the presents last year said that, “The best part of coming to help is seeing all of the gifts and knowing that there are going to be a lot of happy families. That’s the reason why I do this, beyond meeting new people and getting community service hours.”
Items were left unwrapped to let families have the opportunity of doing their own wrapping for Christmas.
Christmas Cheer is an important effort that brings much to those that have so little.
Due to the selfless efforts of the many students at Crossley, the Interact Club, Mrs. Chcoski, other teacher volunteers, the Salvation Army and Rick Lowe, families across the Niagara region were able to enjoy a happy Christmas.
