One Santa, six days, 26 communities, about 20-thousand Christmas treat bags, and lots of smiles.
That about sums up Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Inc’s (MKO) Santa Express, a program bringing the gift of treats and St. Nick to northern MKO First Nations.
MKO Grand Chief, Garrison Settee, said it’s hard work with planning beginning in September on top of the organization’s regular activities. But, he said it’s worth it.
“When Santa goes into the communities, we visit at least six communities in one day. That’s draining and it’s exhausting, but when you see the kids run up to Santa, and all that excitement, you just forget about all the hard work, (and) all the fatigue that you have.”
He said, “We continue to work hard to make sure kids get something this Christmas,” noting there’s a special need in remote communities for these kinds of events and celebrations.
“They will never have an experience like having Santa fly in. It creates an excitement, and it adds to the season,” he said. “It’s very important. Not only for the communities, but it’s important for us that we’re reaching out to the young ones.”
There’s at least 60 staff that put the bags together, he said, and others who came in from the community to help them with it.
The packing started last week, Settee said, and will go on until next week when MKO starts shipping the bags out. However, Kris Kringle himself won’t be heading out until mid-Dec. to meet with “someone that is appointed to help us coordinate on the community side.”
Contrary to folklore though, he won’t be flying on a sleigh.
“We take our plane and our helicopter and do our schedule of runs from community to community,” Settee said. “At one point, we used a snow machine to get Santa from one point to the other, and eventually we’ll probably get a dog team. But yeah, that’s how we do it.”
In hard pressed times, there were two or three Santa’s to deliver the treat bags, but now there’s just the one.
Comments