Buy Something Christmas

Many friends and people I respect subscribe to the idea of a buy nothing Christmas.  Christmas is too commercialized and how much stuff does the average person really need any ways.  How about a different way of looking at it.  Instead of filling a shoe box with a bunch of stuff and thinking we have done a great thing, how about making a difference locally?  I did some media interviews today (one for French CBC Radio) with the cold weather descending on Saskatoon.  In the one interview, I said the guys at the shelter could really use cold weather gear like wool socks, gloves, toques, scarves, used jackets, and stuff like that.  You can drop them off at the Community Centre day or night.

Don't "buy nothing" this Christmas but use some of your wealth to make a real difference in someone's life.  Guys come in all of the time with frost bite or half frozen.  I think because we don't see burning barrels on the streets we think people aren't homeless during the winter but there is a segment of the population that not only do we give shelter to, they also need the basics to keep warm outside.  There are a lot of other organizations that are doing excellent work in Saskatoon that would appreciate some help over the holidays.  In other words, embrace the strangers in your community this holiday.

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