In the spirit of the season, two local businesses came together to collect and donate 16 fully decorated trees for families who would otherwise not have had the chance to set one up in their home this Christmas.

The project, called “Christmas Trees for Families in Need,” was the brainchild of Laurie Hysuick, owner of Mitny Refillery, and Kari Hamilton, owner of Hamilton Ag Bookkeeping.

These trees were first requested in mid-late October and — although the original plan called for all trees to be donated by Nov. 15 and distributed by Nov. 25 — the campaign was extended slightly with all trees fully distributed by Dec. 6.

“We had a really good response,” announced Kari Hamilton, owner of Hamilton Ag Bookkeeping, after reviewing the results of the charitable campaign’s first year.

The project collected new or gently used artificial trees and decorations to provide a fully decorated tree to families who might not otherwise be able to afford one this Christmas. Volunteers decorated the donated trees at the old train station where Mitny Refillery is located and the duo worked closely with the Moose Jaw Police Service, schools, and churches to ensure the trees were delivered to deserving families.

Once completely decorated and ready to go, Hamilton and Hysuick reached out to local elementary schools, the Moose Jaw Transition House, and similar organizations so they could be distributed to deserving families.

Local businesses were invited to help support the project and, in exchange for any donations, they received recognition for their act of generosity.

The idea for the project came after Hysuick and Hamilton learned about a successful analogue campaign in Swift Current that saw a reasonable amount of success. “She (the lady in Swift Current) does like 15 trees, and it’s well received… that’s kind of where we got the idea from,” Hamilton said.

Due to the project being a new enterprise, the two ladies found themselves doing most of the work by themselves with one volunteer happily providing assistance. The task involved setting up each of the 16 trees, fully decorating them, and distributing them to schools and local organizations as needed.

“Christmas trees are kind of big — I forgot about that,” Hamilton said with a laugh as she recalled the somewhat tedious — albeit wholesome — tree preparation this fall.

The campaign did originally put a call out for local businesses to get involved in the campaign, but Hamilton noted that the vast majority of campaign participants were ordinary citizens. Two exceptions were the Moose Jaw Events Centre and Bre’s Boutique in Swift Current — the owner of which is originally from Moose Jaw and continues to maintain lots of contacts and work in the community — who each donated a fully decorated tree.

With a successful first run now completed, Hamilton said she’s on board with the idea of running the Christmas tree campaign again in 2025.

Hamilton Ag Bookkeeping is located at 109 Dahlia Crescent and can be reached at 306-690-7112. For more information visit HamiltonAgBooks.com.

Mitny Refillery is located inside Moose Jaw’s old downtown train station at 5 Manitoba Street East and can be reached at 306-694-6330. For more information, visit MitnyRefillery.ca.

Aaron Walker

Reporter

Moose Jaw Express