Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

CHRISTMAS GIVING

Kamloops Shoebox Project still accepting online donations to collect gifts for women in shelters

Dec 8, 2020 | 3:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Shoebox Project began in 2011 in Toronto. Four sisters wanted to make sure women experiencing homelessness and living in shelters weren’t forgotten over the holidays. Nine years later, the project has grown. Here in Kamloops, the Shoebox Project is celebrating its fifth Christmas providing gifts to women in need.

Much like the projects’ origins, a pair of Kamloops sisters are organizing the local effort.

All across Kamloops, folks are preparing for a very different Christmas this year. COVID-19 has changed most peoples’ holiday plans. That includes the Kamloops edition of the Shoebox Project.

“We don’t necessarily want the necessities in there,” Shoebox Project Kamloops co-organizer Marisa Bertoli explains. “We try to do something pretty, something sentimental, something cozy, to make those women feel like it’s a true Christmas present.”

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2020 marks Year Five for the Shoebox Project in Kamloops. Sisters Merisa and Taylor Bertoli, from Abbott Wealth, have taken on the task of filling shoeboxes with special items for women. This year, visiting people and giving gifts is being discouraged, so the sisters have had to adapt the project by using funds raised to buy gift cards and other items.

“This year, people have been donating online,” Taylor Bertoli explains. “Through those online donations, Marisa and I are able to contact the women’s shelters, find out what they need as essentials and what women would like as gifts.”

The Shoebox Project has delivered gifts to a number of organizations in the community, including the Y Women’s Shelter, the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre, the Kamloops and District Elizabeth Fry Society, and Family Tree. For many women who may not be able to go home, the Shoebox gift is special.

“The sparkle that you see in their eyes,” Marisa says. “And then when you see them open it up and see the things they would never normally get, it so empowering and truly fills your soul. You just see that Christmas spirit come through.”

“Some of them won’t actually open the gift that day,” Taylor adds. “They put it under the tree for themselves so they have something to unwrap because that’s the only gift that they receive.”

Marisa (left) and Taylor Bertoli, of Abbott Wealth, are accepting online donations for the Shoebox Project. Image Credit: CFJC Today

Alix Dolson, the Agency Coordinator for the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre, has seen the impact these gifts have on the women who receive them

“To have that reminder from a community level that they matter, that they’re loved and that there are people in this community that care for them, and want them to have a happy and healthy Christmas, that’s major for women,” Dolson says.

Last year, the Shoebox Project provided over 400 gifts to women in the community in Kamloops. Despite COVID-19, the Bertoli sisters would like to see enough funds raised to exceed that total.

“We just thank the community so much for being so generous and so supportive with initiatives like this,” Marisa says.

There’s still lots of time to donate to the Shoebox Project. You can visit www.shoeboxproject.com/kamloops or contact the organizers via email at marisa@abbotwealth.com or taylor@abbotwealth.com.