Delivering Compassion During Covid

Can Christmas magic exist in the midst of a pandemic?

For Santa YEG and our hundreds of volunteers and partners, this is the time of year where we normally gather to prepare meals several nights a week over the holidays and deliver them to shelters as an act of compassion for those experiencing homelessness, poverty, mental health challenges, and addiction.

The constraints of Covid, combined with the heightened demand of other mainstream charities this year, has left me questioning where Santa YEG fits into the whole picture- and if it even does at all.

I’ve been wrestling with this for awhile and, admittedly, I’ve had moments where I’ve considered just dismissing the Santa YEG initiative entirely this year. But, in my heart, that feels like giving up; it feels like I’d be letting Covid win. It reminded me of why Santa YEG was founded in the first place: to bring the joy and magic of the season to every heart, and to extend compassion to people who may not be accustomed to receiving a lot of it.

With that in mind, Christmas is indeed not cancelled, but for Santa YEG the holidays will look a little different this year. We have been making food donations available to a variety of shelters, largely through the support of Kitchen Partners, but there is a simpler and more impactful way for anyone to join the movement this season.

I am delighted to announce the return of Delivering Compassion YEG Day on Friday, December 18th. Last year, we had more volunteers than we had room for so we liberated delivering compassion for one day and encouraged people to dedicate one magical day to blanketing Edmonton in compassion by performing a random act of kindness. Thousands of people participated and the hashtag #deliveringCompassionYEG was even trending across the country for a short time.

My ask is a simple one: if you want to help contribute to Delivering Compassion YEG Day this year here are some simple ways to do that:

1. Just do something kind for someone on Friday, December 18th.
2. If you want to help grow momentum for the initiative, post the following to your social media accounts on Friday: “Today is #DeliveringCompassionYEG Day in Edmonton. You can join Santa YEG and me in partipating by performing a random act of kindness for someone today. Merry Christmas everyone!”
3. You can share your stories of kindness and compassion using the hashtag #DeliveringCompassionYEG

So get creative, get resourceful, and be clever in your covid-friendly compassion endeavours.

Many of you reading this perform acts of kindness of compassion all year round and especially during Covid. The spirit of Delivering Compassion Day is to put an exclamation point on the kindness of our city and inspire others to keep the magic of the season in their hearts by serving others.

For inquiries, quetions and marketing collateral please email me at santayeg@outlook.com

Merry Christmas everyone!

With gratitude,

Santa YEG

Spread kindness and compassion in Edmonton on Friday, December 18th!

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