Balaclava School and community members give back for a holiday celebration at Queen Victoria School

Students finding gifts in their lockers!

Students finding gifts in their lockers!

Nestled in a quiet, snow-covered neighbourhood in Hamilton, the sound of excited children in a gymnasium is muted by the walls of Queen Victoria School.

On Thursday, December 19, Queen Victoria held its annual turkey dinner and holiday gift giving celebration. However, it’s not the turkey, or even the wonderful decorations that catch your eye upon walking into their gymnasium, it’s the people. There are people of all ages sitting with one another and there is an overwhelming sense of a community that truly cares about the students at Queen Victoria.

The accordion player performing happy tunes by the decorated tree asked if he could attend to entertain the students. The Good Shepherd and La Cantina provided food, while local public health professionals also donated their time to help set up and serve the students.

The two leaders of this celebration, Shelley Hayward, Head Secretary and Ingrid Amaya, a member of the Hamilton Hebrew Academy, both shared sentiments about the “willingness of the community around Queen Victoria School to donate both their time and goods.” Each of these amazing women themselves, have dedicated their time to setting up the gymnasium and acquiring volunteers and sponsors for gifts and donations over the past several years.

Celebration organizers, Shelley Hayward and Ingrid Amaya.

The most special part of the celebration is held at the end of the school day, when students give to other students. The Balaclava Elementary School Student Leadership Committee collects and donates around 350 gifts to Queen Victoria School for their primary and junior grade students.

The Student Leadership Committee makes posters and announcements at Balaclava to spread awareness that they are collecting donations. They place a collection box in every class for the gifts and food drive items donated by students. The student leaders make the donations extra special for the young students at Queen Victoria by also collecting gift bags to wrap the donated toys and treats in.

Each of the students at Balaclava who donate or volunteer should be immensely proud of themselves for displaying such selflessness and empathy for others.

Balaclava’s amazing student volunteers!

To ensure every student up to Grade 4 at Queen Victoria gets a toy or treat, Grocery Gateway (Longos) also donated over 200 Kinder Advent Calendars.

It is so heart-warming to see a community that seemingly has an endless cycle of giving back to one another. The Good Shepherd collects food at the end of the day to give to the Men’s Shelter located near Queen Victoria so that even more people can have a hot meal and benefit from this celebration.

It is easy to see how the work that is put into this day by community members, students and school administration alike, pays off. The children from Queen Victoria who receive the gifts display pure joy upon finding their gift bags in their lockers and it is evident that the day is special to everyone involved.

The Queen Victoria turkey dinner and holiday gift giving celebration has been running for over 15 years and this year they served around 500 students and 700 people in total, including volunteers and teachers.