The Ultimate Christmas Gift
After many days of laughter and tears, the house we build for this family for Christmas is finally complete.The family made us fresh duck with beans and salad for yet another meal together! It is pretty incredible to be on the receiving end of such generosity and sacrifice.During the dedication the crew from Canada presented the family with: beds, dressers, blankets, shoes, stove, propane, groceries, dishes and kitchenware, chickens, a bike for dad, two fruit trees, ten chickens and some other misc items. Needless to say, the family was speechless.Today is our last day in Mexico and we are heading out this morning to see the family for one last time. Even though we are heading back to Canada tomorrow, this family will always be dear to our hearts. This has been a Christmas like no other for all of us. It has been so amazing to be a part of giving the gift of a hope and a future to a family in desperate need. To all of you back home who helped to make this possible, thank you again!
Our team woke up to bright sunshine this December 25th and the knowledge of knowing that this Christmas was different. We had accomplished so much together and felt the true meaning of the phrase, “it is better to give than to receive”.After a hearty breakfast, we played what some call, “Yankee Christmas”. This is where each person brings a gift (between $5 – $10) and when your number is called, you either pick a present from under the tree or steal someone’s. Lots of good laughs as everyone decided that whatever gift Vaden chose, they would steal. Once all the gifts had been distributed, we opened them to find lots of fun souvenirs. Joy got a Monkey playing a guitar made from a coconut. Here is more of her thoughts from the rest of our day’s activities:Today we revisited one of my favorite villages that we have helped in many pasted Hero Holidays. The reason we keep coming back is because of the wonderful children that live there. Their community is so welcoming and well behaved that I feel need to visit each time I am in the Dominican Republic. After lunch, our group of 14 brought along soccer and baseball equipment to start a sports camp. As we drove into town in our open back truck, we caught the attention every child on the narrow road. We hopped of the truck and started picking up children here and there and skipped through the entire village. After collecting all the children we could find, we lead them to an open field to start our afternoon of games.
We had the most amazing time blowing bubbles and coloring with the girls as a majority of the boys were playing soccer or baseball. It was a fun filled day but it did not just end with our sports camp. Later that night, after dinner, we returned to the village to show a movie. We had brought a projector with us from Canada so it was like being in an open air movie theater. Ice Age 3, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, was a huge hit, which we measured by the amount of laughter from both child and adult alike. The smiles on all the people made us proud of what we had accomplished on our trip. Every time we show up at a place with our arms wide open to hold the kids, it touches the lives of many individuals, including our own.
As we sit down to our gift exchange this morning, these words still ring in my head. Last night the family we are building for made us a Christmas dinner. While we were there with them, sitting around a bonfire, the mother informed us of what a normal Christmas is like for them. The difference between ‘normal’ for them and ‘normal’ for us is incredibly unfair. We were all left in awe, amazement, frustration and yet still enjoyed a weird sense of peace and fulfillment at the same time. What we experienced last night is something that we will never find the right words to describe.Welcome to our Christmas Hero Holiday in Mexico. We have people here from ON, MB, SK, AB, and BC! Even though we all come from different provinces, are different ages and have different hobbies and interests, the one common unbreakable bond that we share is a heart to help a family who cannot help themselves. I could go on for hours explaining the challenges this family faces here. They have never known the simple things in life like justice, equality, opportunity or hope.This Christmas is not only one that this family will remember forever, it is one that we will all remember forever as well!To all of you back in Canada who helped make this possible, thank you! There are so many people that could not be here with us right now, but who have all contributed in one way or another to making this house build possible for this family. We are grateful for your generosity and the family we are building for also passes on their unexplainable gratitude.Check out more pictures 
I have never seen so much rain! The second, third, and forth day of our Dominican trip has been filled with mucho mucho rain. Unfortunately, our gift giving day in a local town was postponed until Jan 7th due to roads being washed out on December 21st. So, instead we did an assignment that our teams do on many of our Hero Holidays. Participants get into groups of 3 and pick a chapter from the book, ONE: A Face Behind the Numbers. Each chapter deals with a different cause and/or effect of poverty and has lots of pictures, quotes, statistics, and stories. With the information that the team learns from the chapter of their choice they devise a plan to help fight this injustice. Participants often think of some pretty amazing and attainable ideas which they often put into action when they return home. After this activity and lunch we all snuggled up, away from the rain, and watched Ice Age 3, then when we found some umbrellas made a soggy trip into town to the grocery story for snacks and phone cards.
Our second day (Dec 22) we awoke to rain yet again, but decided that this was not going to hold us back. We went to our work project and worked happily in the rain. On the way to Agua Negra, we stopped at a store and all bought rain coats and boots. People laughed because we looked like one big group of giant bananas (and it was true we were laughing too)! That day we completed one of the cement floors and built up the walls for new roof for the other house. What we all found to be cool was that the single mom of the house getting the new roof and floors, was right out there working with us. She worked so hard and was so grateful for the things we were doing for her family. After dinner and debriefing, our team played a very fun and expressive game of shuraids.Here is a blog from one of our Participants, Melissa, on her second day at Agua Negra (December 23rd)
Today was the most rewarding day of the trip so far. In the morning we arrived at the Agua Negra community centre to be greeted by countless children all jumping, singing, and smiling. Each one of them filled with excitement for the Christmas party that was about to begin. We were able to play and dance with the kids as we helped to hand out lunches and a gift to each child (approximately 200 children!). Being able to bring happiness to the childrens’ day was a major highlight of the trip and also brightened our otherwise rainy day.We were also able to see the concrete floor that we had completed the day before all dry and ready for the owners to move back into their house. It looked like a completely different house! In the afternoon we finished the second house we were working on, with the help of local contractors and friendly neighbours. The people of Agua Negra were so welcoming and greatly appreciate of our work. It was a bitter sweet day because although we finished our two projects, we also had our last trip to Agua Negra. The smiling faces and generosity is something that will be remembered by each member of our team.
I am happy to tell you that the rain has stopped as of 7pm December 23rd. On Christmas Eve our team enjoyed a day off. We took some time to go the markets on the beach to purchase $5 – $10 gifts for our gift game tomorrow morning. In the afternoon, our team got the chance to hangout on the beach and get some sun. Now we can come home to our friends and family with a tan and proof that we were somewhere warm!Merry Christmas everyone!
Hey everyone! Or shall I say, “Hola!” Our Dominican Republic Christmas Hero Holiday has begun. All 14 of us arrived safe and sound to our tropical paradise on Saturday without any delays. This is amazing because they were canceling flights left, right, and centre because of some storm going on in Eastern US.Today, Sunday December 20th, we went on LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)’s awareness tour. We got to see some past projects they have completed over their many trips since 2005. We also got to see our projects for this trip too. We are going to be putting a new roof on a home that needs one really bad and also give the family a cement floor because right now they have a dirt floor. We are also going to give a cute elderly lady a cement floor too. I had never really thought what life would be like living with a dirt floor but it would be really hard to keep your house and items in it clean. I am glad that we can help them out.
We we got back to the resort after our tour, we pooled all the gifts that we brought with us on the trip. There was lots of toys, candy, school supplies, and bars of soap. We all took a station and was in charge of making sure that item got into each bag. In total we made 212 bags! That’s a lot of gifts to handout. We are going to be giving them to all the children at our Christmas party at Agua Negra. Can’t wait!I am really happy I am on this trip this Christmas. I really want to help others and it is a great time of year to do it. Tomorrow we are suppose to be handing out gifts in a village near Sanitago, but it is suppose to rain. So, we will see…
Last week, the School of Leadership students who are touring Canada in our high school assemblies, had a break in their touring schedule. So, what better way to spend their downtime then volunteering at a local charity, the Good Shepherd. Good Shepherd assists thousands of people every year with emergency programs that provide the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, and rehabilitative programs that offer guidance, give hope, and restore dignity. They serve troubled youth, abused women and children, the dying, the mentally and physically challenged, the hungry and the homeless. Their ultimate goal is to support people through crisis and assist them in reestablishing healthy and productive lives in the community. (
working in the facilities kitchen where they prepare meals for all their volunteers (and it was yummy!), and serve a hot meal to anyone in the community who needs it. We were told that they can serve between 275 – 500 meals a day. Now, keep that number in mind when you think of how many potatoes are needed in one week to feed that many people because we peeled it! It was not really that bad because it was a great time for us to talk and have peeling contests (Cory was the fastest, but Kayla was close behind). After we finished, in record timing, we were in the kitchen cleaning carrots and wrapping sandwiches.That afternoon we worked in the Good Shepherds “Christmas Store Program”. The Christmas Store, now in its 17th year, is a valued Good Shepherd program. For 14 days the Food Bank at the Good 
Shepherd’s Warehouse is transformed into the Christmas Store, where more than 2,000 vulnerable families can collect a Christmas Hamper containing special Christmas groceries, winter hats and mitts, and toys for the children. Us girls (Bri, Kayla, and I) joins some lovely elderly ladies in pre packing some grocery bags. We had quite the assembly line going and were singing while we packed. The boys (Cory, Brandon, Chad, and JP) help each of the customers pack all their goodies and bring it out to their taxi or rides. They were the happiest “bag boys” I have ever seen.Our second day at the Good Shepherd was spent upstairs in the warehouse organizing toys, gum, and clothes. We were really impressed with the donations that the Good Shepherd received. Companies really showed their generosity to the people of Hamilton who need help. We finished the day off with working at the Christmas store again. At the end of the each of our days we walked home with smiles that could not be stolen. Each of us felt the necessity and joy of helping others and loved every moment of being able to help.Here are some things that the SOLs had to say about their experience. All with huge smiles on our faces, the energy of the other volunteers and the clients, made our days go by fast. Not only did me meet a lot of awesome people, we all grew and learned new things about ourselves. I’m hoping if i ever have any more time off to go back and visit and help where we are needed! ~ Kayla I met a lot of really nice clients of the Good Shepherd who were some of the most grateful people I’ve met so far here in the HAMMER. All though these people have been down on there luck and have to resort to a shelter. It was so amazing to see how gracious people can be and how lending a helping hand can make someones Christmas an enjoyable one. Helping out at Good Shepherd has actually helped me remember that this Christmas there is more happiness in giving than in receiving. ~ Cory
If you are wondering if you should volunteer some where this holiday season, then believe me, you will love it! It is a simple way to make a difference in the lives of others and to bring back into focus the true meaning of Christmas. GIVING!Hope you have a Safe and Happy Christmas and New Years!Nettie BrownSchool of Leadership and Hero Holiday Administrator
