A Christmas tradition has once again begun in earnest, with a modern twist.

Drumheller residents have been strong supporters for the Morgan Jayne Project and the work that the Familias Saludables does for families affected by AIDS in Roatan. Every year on top of its mandate to provide infant formula, supporters come out for this Christmas miracle. This is an effort to give the families served by the clinic to receive a modest Christmas gift at  a Christmas party. 

On Monday, Valerie Nelson of Familias Saludables published the Christmas wish list, and once again the need has not dwindled. She details a list of more than 100 children who excitedly write the letters to Santa with their wishes. This project serves some of the poorest of the poor. 

Many of the families’ stories are heartbreaking, torn apart by health, poverty and violence. 

“Every year we send that list to all of you and one by one, children who live in poverty, whose families are affected by AIDS, are given a day of love, generosity and hope. The happiness every Christmas is unbelievable; I wish you could all share in it. For one day of their lives, they are fed and given something special that they wanted. It is magic for their soul and magic to watch,” said Nelson.

 Last year organizers, facing steep shipping fees and logistics, turned to Amazon.com. It worked well. Now the wish list is posed on the online retailer site. Supporters can simply log on, select the gifts they wish to share with these families, and they are shipped to Florida, greatly reducing transport fees.

“Last year we put their wish list on Amazon.com for the first time. Many of you found it easy to purchase and were happy not to have to pay shipping fees as those were often more costly that the gift,” said Nelson.

To support the project, visit http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3UNAK2COKP009/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_v? and select a child's name from the menu on the left hand side. 

    On Friday, October 23 the members of the new Alberta Health Services (AHS) board were announced, and a Drumheller criminal defense lawyer was on the list.
    Hugh Sommerville, who practices in Drumheller was selected to help bring rural concerns to AHS.
    “The province has decided to put a single board together to try and provide some stability to the health care system, to ensure its financial sustainability, and also generally work to try to provide a proper bit of leadership all across the province for the health care system,” he said.
    Sommerville said when the five health regions were amalgamated into one, the former board was dismissed because of problems between it and the government at the time.
    “The previous government, I think, was talking about trying to subdivide us back into individual regions. As I understand it, the minister has listened to the front line people who are just in shock from so much change that it is better just to try to stick with a stable system for now, and put one board back in place. They are trying to get a broad base of perspectives for that board and I particularly, am expected to bring something of a rural perspective to the board,” he explained.
    Sommerville said the minister was trying to create a board with a number of different skill sets and experience, and that is how he was selected.
    “One of the things they were looking for was someone with legal training. They were looking for someone who is generally rural and had a good feel for rural views on matters. They were also looking for someone with quite a bit of experience on the high level public interest board which is very different than a corporate board,” adding that he has been elected four times to the Law Society putting in his eighth year on the board of directors which is a public interest board.
    “They were looking to fill a number of roles. They were looking for people with a certain education, certain experience, certain qualifications, I certainly don’t quite have all the qualifications they were looking for, but I have some of them  and I think she is trying to carefully craft a board that has a good range of skills and experience,” he explained.
    Sommerville said he was contacted to see if he was interested in becoming a member of the board.
    “I think they looked to see who would have the skills that they wanted and I was contacted. I then went through an extensive interviewing process to ensure that I was the right kind of person for the board they were trying to put together,” he said.
    “I am very honoured to be able to take rural perspectives to the table and work with the minister and the board colleagues. I am looking forward to it and I think hopefully we can provide a more stable health care system,” he told The Mail.  
    The other members of the board include board chair Linda Hughes, Vice Chair Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn and members David Carpenter, Glenda Yeates, Marliss Taylor and Richard Dicerni.