December 30, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. Has all the wrapping paper been cleaned up and put out for the waste collection people? Are the toys, the ties and the bright socks that are always bought as gifts tucked away? Are the kids out on the hills sliding around on the new boards they got or out on the ice with new skates or just any skates for that matter?
For those sensible enough to stay home and avoid the bargain Boxing Day prices for things you really don’t need, today is a day to realize that you did put on some weight and you survived another season. As long as you’re not in retail or a hydro line worker or a forester you got some time at home with family and friends or making phone calls or perhaps exchanging photographs with distant family and friends via the internet.
There are in Burlington tens of thousands who will remember the days when you had to book the long distance call you wanted to make; some people even dressed up to listen to the Queen’s Christmas message. Those were distant days and different times.
One of the things that is not part of the past – it is still very much with us today – and that is family who do not have enough. There are children who got one or two gifts and a Christmas meal that was adequate but the plates definitely were not heaping.
From the left: Lisa Hepfner, Leslie Stewart from CHCH and Sunni Genesco of KLite wrapping gifts for Burlington Mall shoppers
Each year the United Way holds a Gift Wrapping event at the Burlington Mall where they bring in local celebrities who cheerfully wrap a gift you bought.
Each year, Burlington’s MP, Mike Wallace makes the rounds of the Senior’s homes and has a gift wrapped at the Mall. This year Commie Smith happened to be on hand to adjust hit Christmas tie for him and wrap his package.
Wallace enjoys making the rounds. He tends to take a laugh into each room he walks into – although this year he got a bit of a jolt when one female senior told him he had worn the same time last year.
Connie Smith adjusts MP Mike Wallace’s Christmas tie at the United Way gift wrap counter at the Burlington Mall. Expect to see Wallace in a newer tie next year – at least one senior told him she had seen it the year before.
The Gift Wrapping service is one of many events the United Way holds to draw attention to its annual fund raising drive.
One of the advantages for United Way donors is the tax receipt – but if you want to use that deduction on your 2013 tax return – you’ve got a bit more than a day to send your dollars winging towards the United Way. Through the magic of technology and the internet you can make a donation – a sizable one if you don’t mind – with just a couple of clicks.
Scoot on over to the United Way web site – make your donation and bank that tax receipt – and take some satisfaction know that you are helping fund 130 different programs that 65,000 people in the Burlington Hamilton community reply upon.
That puts a little bit extra in the giving column.
