This holiday season, a team from Canadian Forces School of Military Intelligence (CFSMI) organized a Holiday Donation Drive that took place at CFB Kingston from 1-15 December. The purpose of this initiative was to acquire cellphones, blankets, pillows, and camping gear for disadvantaged families and individuals living in our local community.
The Kingston Youth Shelter and Kingston Interval House identified the need for cellphones for work interviews, social connectivity, and, most importantly, emergency calls. The various homeless shelters in Kingston identified a need for pillows, blankets, and camping gear to provide basic comfort and protection from the elements, preventing cold-weather injuries.
Donation bins were placed in various locations across base to allow members to drop off their items. Second Lieutenant Seth Williams and Master Sailor Brittany Lambert led this initiative, with 2Lt Williams describing MS Lambert as a “driving force” in organizing the event, saying that she has been a catalyst to the success of this donation drive through the amount of time and energy she has volunteered to make sure that everything ran smoothly.
The rest of the team who helped with the donation drive included Corporal Badour, Corporal Hickson, Private Jin Kyu Kwon, and Private Cameron-Chavez. These three members assisted in the acquisition and distribution of the donations. The heavy lifting (both figuratively and literally) done by these three members was crucial in ensuring that the generous donations from our Defense Team got to their final destinations.
The Holiday Donation Drive was an important initiative, allowing organizers and donors to have a direct impact on our local community. Through these initiatives, we see the positive effects that can be made by on the micro level, versus the impacts that are less frequently noticed at the macro level. According to Cpl Badour, this project gave him the “warm and fuzzies,” which is exactly what we all need as we enter the cold winter season.
Thank you to all the Defense Team members who took part in the Holiday Donation Drive, and Bravo Zulu to 2Lt Williams, MS Lambert, Cpl Badour, Cpl Hickson, and Pte Cameron-Chavez for all of their hard work on this project! This group of Kingston Defense Team members exemplifies what it is to serve Canada at home as well as abroad.
