6 THE VOICE, FRIDAY, DEC. 2, 2016 EDITOR SIMRAN GILL HRISTMAS SPECIAL By CHELSEA POWRIE t may not be snowing in Vancouver, but the spirit of giving has still ar- rived on West 4th Avenue with Kits- mas. Kitsmas was created by Kitsilano 4th Avenue Business Association and this is their first annual seasonal cele- bration. The association wanted to en- courage local shopping while cutting down on the stress of the Christmas season. They are providing by-donation va- let parking Thursday through Satur- day until Christmas Day, with proceeds going to Canuck Place. Red mailboxes labeled “Letters for Santa” have been placed along 4th Avenue, and branches of mistletoe have been hung on every block and distributed to every busi- ness. “T like the surprise, I like the magic of Christmas and it’s coming through, and I love that,” said Jane McFadden, ity. eee eo ~. fee OTE, the executive director of the Kitsilano 4th Avenue Business Association. “It provides that cohesiveness for the neighbourhood that I really like.” McFadden’s favourite part so far has been the letters to Santa. “Tm kind of in love with the mailbox- es. Every day I take the letters out and actually mail them to Santa, so I kind of feel like an elf,” Mcfadden said. Michael Niemeyer is a Kitsilano resi- dent who saw the Santa mailboxes in passing today, and stopped to take a picture. He says he’ll come back to in- volve his family in the Kitsmas experi- ence. “T was intrigued by it and thought to myself ‘Well, I should see what that is,’ especially for the kids because I have two small kids. I was thinking about getting the kids to write something [to Santa],” Niemeyer said. Elizabeth Petaske, who manages Es- cents Aromatherapy, which has a San- ta mailbox right out front, says she’s SUBMITTED photo Christmas wish lists being sent to Santa Claus at the mailbox on West 4th Avenue. noticed plenty of people stopping to take a photo of the mailbox, and asking her for more information. “We've heard ‘This is such a cute idea, we’ve never seen this before!” Petaske said. “The mailboxes are so adorable, ’'m really glad we have one in front of our store.” Petaske also mentioned that the by donation valet parking was something that draws customers in since all the proceeds go towards a local charity, Ca- nuck Place. “It’s huge, because that’s what we hear most from our guests, that there’s nowhere to park.” “If they can come in on a weekend and have a good two hours where they don’t have to worry, that’s fantastic,” Petaske said. Cameron Critchow, one of the valet drivers, said he has heard good feed- back from pedestrians passing by. But some drivers have been annoyed SUBMITTED photo Kitsmas focuses on providing customers with locally made gifts. Feels like Kitsmas Is in the air West 4th Avenue in Kits prepares for the holidays with mistletoe and mailboxes that the valet stand is taking up two metered parking stops, and not every- one believes the valet program is legiti- mate. “lve had six or seven people accuse us of just putting those signs up there,” Critchow said. “There’s quite a bit of question about the validity.” Taylor Allan works at a ski and snowboard shop at Fourth Avenue and Burrard that has a Santa mailbox out front as well as a ski lift chair with mis- tletoe that patrons can sit in and take a photo. He says he hasn’t noticed a particu- lar jump in business since Kitsmas be- gan, but he’s seen plenty of people en- joying the attractions outside. “lve noticed tons of kid pointing at the mailbox. And I’ve spotted some people smooching on the chair and tak- ing pictures,” Allan said. “And a couple customers have said they’re [going to] bring their kids back to send a letter to Santa.” It's the season to give back Helping those less fortunate is something many do during Christmas time By MICHELE PAULSE nity organizations are giving to those in need. Organization like Christ Church Cathedral and Mission Possible provide support for the home- less through essential survival items that are often donated. Taryl Guenter communications co- ordinator at Christ Church Cathedral said giving back at this time of year is more important than ever. “A sense of community is important to us here and ensure as much as pos- sible, everyone is included in that com- munity,” said Guenter. “We try to take care of one another.” Christ Church runs the Maundy Café, a daily food program that serves 400 people a week and gift giving was DD: the holiday season commu- added in December. “We are collecting a few different items of clothing for people who come here for meals quite frequently, so we're requesting dry socks, we re- questing t-shirts,” Guenter said. Christ Church has been extending its Christmas giving program to the Downtown Eastside. “We are collecting items for the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre,” Guenter said. Parishioners are the main donors of gifts to the women’s centre, and they give items the centre asks for: toilet- ries, mittens, toques, games and toys for children. At Mission Possible, an organization in the Downtown Eastside, people have the opportunity to get what they want for Christmas, by writing the kind of gift they’d like to receive, on the orga- nization’s Christmas wish list. “We do this thing every year for reg- ular participants,” Rod Janz, manager of development and communications at Mission Possible, said. Having those in need get the gifts they want makes a difference to how they feel about Christmas. “We sometimes do up to 100 gifts a year at Christmas time,” Janz said. Mission Possible serves those 18 and older and asks for donations from the public that have a value of up to $20. “People can supply a really specific thing that people need,” Janz said. “Often it’s gloves, or coat, or socks or sometimes really practical things like art supplies so they can make a pic- ture.” Janz expresses the importance of the gifts. “It was awesome to watch people’s faces as they received the gift [they wanted], even though they already knew what it was,” Jenny Hawkinson, a volunteer at Mission Possible, said in an email. “Tt meant so much to people to know that someone was shopping for them,” she said. MICHELE PAULSE photo Christ Church Cathedral is one of many organizations that gives back. The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. They may be edited for brevity. 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