Members of the Akwesasne community pulled off an amazing event last Friday, December 11th, 2015. The day kicked off in the early morning hours as “Holiday Helpers” whipped up breakfast as fundraising efforts began. Throughout the day, the cooking continued as people stopped by to make a donation and show their support.
Aside from the tasty food, a unique and popular fundraising initiative continued this year where community members were “arrested” and needed to get “bailed out”. Each “prisoner” had a set price that they needed to reach before being released.
Holiday Helpers met their fundraising goal, almost right down to the penny – $60,251.09 to purchase food and gifts for Akwesasne community members who are in need. On Friday December 11, 2015 at the Hogansburg –Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department, the fundraisers brought in an amazing $30,251.09 (currency breakdown – $17,398.24 US and 12,852.85 CAN). Community members pulled together to ensure families will not go hungry and the children and seniors have a nice gift come Christmas morning.
According to a press release from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, expenses to date are approximately $ 28,852.61 for food and roughly $2,230 for gifts purchased. Although they had a number of generous toy and gift donations, they still have to purchase a number of toys for the children and gifts for seniors to fill the remaining empty baskets. A full report of all donations and expenses will be published for the community to view in January.
According to the Holiday Helpers Facebook page, the volunteers have been very busy over the last couple of days sorting and organizing for the distribution days to come. They wrote this post just recently — “We could never have done this without the community’s support and some very generous and dedicated volunteers! We thank everyone who has partnered with us to make this goal a reality.”
By: ATV Staff
The pickup will be from 11am to 7pm on Thursday, December 16 and Friday, December 17, 2015.
Photo Credits: Akwesasne Holiday Helpers
SRMT Sub-Chief Cheryl Jacobs
