The simplest things can bring area homeless men some Christmas cheer

Sault Rotaract is reaching out to the community, seeking to give some Christmas care to men leaving local mens shelters during the holiday season.

For the fifth consecutive year, Sault Rotaract is looking for donations of new or gently used backpacks, along with donated necessary items to stuff the packs with.

“We want to help men out, and rightly so during the holidays. We’re thinking of children and families, and we have Christmas Cheer which helps out with toys and food for families and there are stuff a bus programs, and all those programs are phenomenal, but what about the guys in the shelters?” said Lyndsay Avery, Sault Rotaract president, speaking to SooToday.

“We’ve probably done very close to 80 backpacks for men each year, so over the past four years we’ve done about 320 backpacks, taking them to St. Vincent Place, the Ken Brown Recovery Home and Pauline’s Place.”

“I’ve gone back to St. Vincent Place and the staff have told me the men are thrilled, absolutely thrilled, because they feel they’re getting something for Christmas. It gives them a boost to know people are thinking about them,” Avery said.

“One of the awesome things about doing it at this time of year with Black Friday coming up is we’ll shop online and go to Bentley (to purchase backpacks) and that has kept the price down to seven to nine dollars for each new backpack. We look out for deals and stretch out our funds as much as we can so we can help as many people as we can,” Avery said.

Sault Rotaract is accepting new or lightly used backpacks, along with donations of shampoo, soap, deodorant, nail clippers, hair brushes, lip balm, first aid kits, tissues, socks, hats, mitts, new toothbrushes and toothpaste and other items until Dec.3.

“Snack items are a big thing to include in the care packs, as well as books or magazines you don’t read anymore and keep around the house. It keeps people busy, they enjoy reading... we’re grateful for any type of donated items, a backpack, toiletries, whatever you’re able to contribute,” Avery said.

Financial donations to give to the men are also welcome.

Donations over $20 are eligible for a charitable receipt, with cheques payable to ‘Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie.’

“Usually we raise between four to six thousand dollars for the men annually. For a little group like ours, we do okay,” Avery said.

Donations of backpacks, items and/or cheques may be dropped off at the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie office at 364 Queen St. E. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Sault Rotaract, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie, is a group of local volunteers from ages 18 to 30.

One doesn’t have to be a Rotary Club member to join Rotaract, Avery said.

“We started up locally five and a half years ago, and we typically range between six to 12 members. It fluctuates, given everybody’s schedules...we’ve been meeting primarily at Shabby Motley just to keep our costs down.”

Rotaract, while relatively new to the Sault, is a part of Rotary, Rotaract celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, the larger Rotary organization celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Rotaract may be contacted at 705-206-2438.