CAYUGA—Local business owner Kim Burrows is expanding an initiative to make sure everyone gets a gift this holiday season.
Burrows owns the Sprinkle Barn ice cream shops in Cayuga and Binbrook, but before that, she managed the Binbrook Tim Hortons for a number of years.
For almost a decade, a Glanbrook service organization ran a donation drive to make sure older adults in that community would receive gifts for Christmas. Each year, the Tim Hortons in town would host one of the trees that would be adorned with paper ornaments detailing the recipients’ wish lists. The idea was that community members would take the ornament, buy the items, and give them to the organization for distribution.
Last year, new management at the organization decided to take a different direction with holiday gifts, and the initiative was ended.
“I was like, ‘That’s not going to work for me; I’m just going to do my own tree then,’” Burrows said.
So, she approached Vivian Kinnear, the volunteer coordinator of the Glanbrook Food Bank to see what – if anything – was being done for the individuals accessing those supports. As it turned out, the group that had been running a gift drive for the food bank was unable to do it last year, which meant it was the perfect time for Burrows to take the lead instead.
The Giving Tree, as Burrow’s initiative was dubbed, was a rousing success in its inaugural year.
Not only did the community donate enough items that the 30-plus families with the Glanbrook Food Bank were all given gifts, but there were also enough items to give gifts to all of the residents of Orchard Court (a non-profit apartment building geared to older adults), to the Salvation Army to distribute to families in need, and “I reached out to the local churches in Binbrook and had them come pick up some items for some families they knew were struggling,” Burrows said.
This year, riding on that success, she decided to expand the gift drive initiative into Cayuga as well, starting by contacting the Cayuga Food Bank.
“They were excited about that,” Burrows said.
The Home Hardware and Tim Hortons in Cayuga have both agreed to host the trees with the paper ornaments, and to be drop off sites for donations.
Burrows said the two food banks are taking different approaches to how they’re distributing the gifts.
In Glanbrook, the items are being bundled together ahead of time for specific households, to be picked up when those clients come in for their holiday hampers.
In Cayuga, meanwhile, the items will be set out so that families can choose their own gifts when they come in.
Either way, the goal of making sure everyone has a happy holiday will be met.
Burrows noted, “I’m also going to be asking for donations from the community for gift bags and wrapping paper and stuff like that, so people can come in and take some of that with them when they pick up their items, since we’re not going to be wrapping it.”
Donors are asked to have their contributions in by December 10, to ensure that there’s enough time to sort the gifts and supplement if needed. The Glanbrook Food Bank has about 30 families on the list again this year, while Cayuga has around 40.
If this year turns out to be like last year and there’s an excess of gifts donated, Burrows confirmed, “We’ll make sure that everything (donated in Cayuga) goes somewhere in Haldimand.”
