Everyone deserves to be remembered during the Christmas season with hearty meals and unexpected gifts. It’s part of what makes the season special.
This year the St. Albert Kinettes have a mighty task to accomplish – fill 300-plus Christmas hampers with toys for kids and teens as well as three weeks of groceries for families in need. Higher interest rates, hikes in rent and mortgage increases, food, fuel and utilities are digging a hole in budgets. As food insecurity grows, Christmas threatens to look less bright for some families.
Fortunately, St. Albertans have always shown an outpouring of support and a strong spirit of giving for the traditional Fill-a-Bus campaign. Throughout the one-day event, transit buses are conveniently parked outside local grocery stores with open doors ready to accept donations.
Ten St. Albert Transit buses will be parked at 10 stores on Saturday, December 9 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Groceries, unwrapped toys and monetary donations can be dropped off on buses located at Sobeys, Independent Grocer, Superstore, Safeway, FreshCo, Coop Food Store and both Save-On Foods stores. In addition, buses will also be stationed at Walmart and Canadian Tire.
While St. Albert Transit will provide buses for this charity event, Pacific Western Transportation (PWT) has arranged for bus drivers to volunteer their time on Saturday. PWT provides a variety of bus services to municipalities across Alberta including drivers to St. Albert Transit.
Will Steblyk, St. Albert Transit service delivery manager said, “When you see an opportunity like this to help a worthy organization provide assistance to a group of residents, we’re always interested in exploring the opportunity. This is a group of volunteers who are trying to gather supplies for those who have less and we’re happy to contribute. Furthermore, we applaud the Kinettes and Pacific Western Transportation and our drivers for assisting in this invaluable event.”
