The heart of Denman was evident in this year’s Holiday Hampers program. Facilitated by DICES, the community of Denman comes together each year to share resources in the spirit of giving. The generous financial support of locals in our community combined with a sizable donation from the 2024 Victoria Times Colonist Christmas Fund, we are able to purchase food for a special holiday meal, a few staples, some sweet treats and gifts for 88 people in 42 households.
The process of packing the hampers, wrapping the gifts and delivering the hampers requires a team of dedicated volunteers. This year 43 volunteers came out to share their energy and enthusiasm for this community to create each hamper. Special thank you to Roxanna Mandryk, Nandy Anderson, JoAnne Shepherd and Debbie Frketich for heading up the wrapping and packing teams. Your energy and attention to detail created an efficient environment of collective enthusiasm. Another big thank you to Bee Balm and team for creating homemade pies for each hamper. To everyone who showed up to get the food, do the recycling, set up the tables, pack the hampers and wrap the presents – thanks for showing up for your community.
The Holiday Hampers could not happen without the help of our local businesses. We would especially like to thank the Denman Island General Store (Jennifer!) for ordering and refrigerating food; Two Roads Farms (Emily!) for growing and selling high quality vegetables at reasonable prices; the Denman Island Hardware Store (Graham and Verna!) for hosting the gift donation box; and Home Town Shredders (Evan!) who provided all the boxes for the hampers. Much gratitude to Saputo (Dairyland) as an important donor of food this year.
To everyone who donated gifts and those who donated funds to purchase gifts – your thoughtful generosity was evident this year in the quality and quantity of gifts we received for children, youth and adults.
Thanks for your amazing generosity in the form of time, energy, funds, food and gifts, Denman. Happy New Year!
