Two Drumheller couples, accompanied by the Hinz family, make the Christmas Spirit bright in Roatan with the help of the Drumheller community.
Cindy and Bob Thomas; Chris and Gary Storrs; joined by Darren and Kris Hinz with their two daughters Camryn (age 15) and Cassidy (age 17) travelled to the small country of Roatan. Bearing gifts, they travelled the island which is about 65 kilometres off the northern tip of Honduras.
Cindy Thomas said, “We feel it was really successful thanks to the help of Drumheller.”
The group had posted on Facebook the need for help with the cost of shipping the gifts for the children of Roatan. It didn’t take long for them to raise $1,600 as well as receive numerous donations of toys, toothbrushes, hats, and other goodies that were given to the children. In all, they sent 10 boxes, $1,000 worth of candy canes ahead and they took an additional five suitcases full of goodies to give out to the children of Roatan.
“We kind of changed things up a bit this time,” Cindy Thomas said, “The Pioneer Trail ladies had donated 14 handmade quilts and we weren’t sure how to get them to moms who would need them. We ended up visiting a hospital, where on Christmas Eve there were five newborns and on Christmas Day there were nine more born. We ended up having just the right amount of blankets for each baby.”
Gary Storrs, aka Santa, said, “Santa even got to hold a baby only one hour old.”
As well as visiting the Hospital in Coxen Hole on Christmas Eve, the group visited a daycare that had 22 children in their care. Despite the group’s best efforts to sneak Santa into the daycare, it didn’t take long for everyone to hear that Santa was there and soon they were overrun by children.
Cindy said, “We also visited an orphanage and made a point to take two of the soccer balls that were donated. The kids went crazy over them.”
According to Cindy they received 50 brand new, Nike soccer balls donated by a combination from Canadian Tire and Subway.
“The Pioneer Trail ladies also hand knit over 600 dolls and balls. Every year we bring them the kids have go crazy over them and are extremely appreciative of them.” Cindy told inSide Drumheller, “In all we probably saw over 2,000 kids and ended up giving away everything we had.”
The group is in the works of already planning next year’s trip. They have 2,036 candy canes ready for next year and have been contacted by many in the Drumheller community to donate funds or items.
Cindy said, “We will be doing a couple presentations close to the end of the month to show our appreciation to all those who helped out. We are still ironing out all the details but we will all be there to talk about our trip and will have many pictures to show. Please, watch Facebook for more details or call me at (403) 823-0646.”
