Helping hands

Dear sir:
I am writing this letter to express a great feeling of gratitude. When my staff and I decided to promote Christmas at my business, we thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to share some of the success that has come our way since opening the doors of In Focus last February.
We decided we would create a new charity in the district and contribute a percentage of our Christmas sales to that charity. There was not question in our mind that this would involve the children of the community.
Thus . . . the “Helping Hands, Mitts For Kids” charity, in conjunction with the local Salvation Army Christmas Hamper drive, was created.
We also reached out to the public for donations of new mitts, yarn, and money to assist in our goal of 250 pairs of mitts in time for Christmas.
At the time, we had no idea how successful the campaign would be. The response was tremendous! Because of the hard work and kind hearts of the community, we were able to reach our goal and 250 children in the district had warm hands for Christmas!
I should mention we also received two pairs of hand-knitted socks . . . a neat idea for next year!
I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Dorothy Taylor (our Christmas angel) and Elizabeth Donaldson for all the beautiful hand-knitted mittens, Brenda Allen for the big bag of wool, Dan Talocka, merchandise manager of Zellers in Kenora, for the incredible prices on all the mittens, and to my hard-working staff, Beth, Kristen, and Jay, for all their help and support to help make this idea a success.
Also, a big thank you to the following businesses for displaying donation boxes and for their donations: Northwoods Gallery & Gifts, Mary’s Little Lambs, Mar-Te Sporting Goods, McTaggarts, Quality Custom Sewing, Betty’s, Tammi’s Flower Garden, Rainy Lake Sports, Skates & Blades, Pizza Hut, Fort Frances Times, Gagne’s Pharmacy, SAAN Store, Pharmasave, Lidkea, Elliott & Lidkea Optometrists, Pro Picture Framing, The Den, Celeste’s Hair Design, Dough & Deli, Einar’s Foods, Wilson’s Business Solutions, Bonnie Blue, Holmlund Financial, Gillons’ Insurance, Dancemakers & Beauty Essentials, Mario’s Jewellers, The Christmas Store, and the Royal Bank.
And last but not least, a very heartfelt thank you to all the people of Rainy River District for their wonderful support and kind donations. The spirit of the season is shown over and over again in our community.
God Bless you all and may the spirit of Christmas be with you all through 2001. Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Jan Hall-Bosma