The above photo is the gift for a 7 year old girl. She wanted black and pink running shoes.

Last week on the morning net the call went out for Santa's Helpers. Bob on a boat called Cactus had organized for gifts for the students of one of the poorer schools in the area. Each student was asked to write a letter to Santa and ask for one item that they wanted/needed the most. Then Bob announced on the morning net that if anyone wanted to be a helper to let him know.
Ian and I quickly grabbed the mike and called him back right away. We got a letter and it is so cute with little christmas things drawn on it. Ours turned out to be from a 7 year old girl. She wanted black and pink running shoes so off we went on a shopping trip (one of the few times Ian has actually enjoyed shopping).
Her size was the last size in childrens before the shoes jumped to teens and adult sizes. In her size we found almost all the shoes to be a bit guady with sequins and sparkels and Barbie and miss Kitty stuff. We found a pair that was not too over the top on the glitter and we hope that she will be happy with them. We also bought her some crayons and colouring books for some fun and scribblers and pencils for school. I had a few little things laying around like a snowflake necklace and the Vancouver Olympics stuffed toy which I included in the package.
It really is the giving that makes you feel good. We know we may never meet her and will certainly not receive anything in return but that is so not important to us. We are just happy that we are able to give something back to a community of people that have given us so much by sharing their country with us for the past few years. And we do have the little letter that she wrote which is like a present itself.
There have been several fund raisers for various communities some needing food, some clothing and blankets and some Christmas presents. We have given to various of these and each time we are more than happy too. We don't buy each other gifts so this is our Christmas shopping.