Episode Details

Do you remember your favourite experience doing charity work?

I’ll always remember my favourite moment as a Basket Brigade Volunteer.

It was Thanksgiving and jacket weather, the sun was out so it was warm enough that we didn’t need gloves.

My brother Tony was driving his company car since it’s an SUV and well, we’re doing god’s work so someone else can pay for the mileage 😛 hahaha

He pulled off the main road and into a townhouse complex right off the main road.  As it goes with affordable, high density housing, it’s often right off a busy street with four to six lanes of traffic.  The houses are close together, the lots are maybe 20 feet wide, single lane driveways. We drive slowly going over speed bumps as I’m looking for the house numbers.

We find the house and pull into the driveway, it looks like all the rest of the houses but with toys on the front lawn, the grass is that shade of yellow and green.  This complex looks to be a condominium as they all look the same and built in the 1980’s. They’ve been maintained OK but they haven’t been painted in a while and I can see some tattered window screens.

Our list of deliveries details the family as two sisters sharing a house each having kids for a total of five kids, the oldest is nine, youngest 24 months.

Single moms have a special place in my heart as statistically, single moms have the highest chance of living in poverty of any household.  I’m a parent too and know how hard it is, I couldn’t imagine being on your own with a single income.

My brother Tony and I grab boxes and bags of groceries including a turkey, fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, butter, eggs, everything you need to entertain family for Easter dinner. We carry the groceries from the trunk, walk up to the front door,  knock and are greeted by yelling children. They are excited to see who’s coming and are jumping up and down with smiles to greet us.

One of my the mom’s comes around the corner to greet us and say thank you.  She’s dressed comfortably in sweats as everyone does on weekends and she looks tired and has a kind but tired smile and says thank you.  Mom hugs both my brother and I. The kids are looking through the packages we brought. They box and bag we brought are heavy so the kids are grabbing items, lifting over their heads and yelling what it is before carrying it off to the kitchen. We inform her we still have more and need to make another trip to the car.

My brother and I return with more groceries and some used kids books that were donated by another volunteer.  One of the kids screams “pie!!” and “oh look! BOOKS!!” Two of the kids help themselves to books and go outside to read in the sun, the other kids run outside to play on the lawn too.

We exchange hugs with mom and again and wish her a Happy Thanksgiving.  Tony and I return to the car and sit in silence for 30 seconds before turning on the engine.  Taking in the experience of making a difference for a single mom and kids who are so grateful for so little.  My brother says something along the lines of how great it feels to help out this family. I say nothing as I’m not good at expressing my feelings.  I’m the passenger/navigator so I check the list and key in the GPS for our next delivery.

A simple act on a fall day with my brother and I’ll never forget it. Life is about experiences after all.

This was the moment I knew we were onto the best volunteer experience ever and I got to share it with my big brother. I knew we had to bring it back to Hamilton.

This was six years ago and with the help of many others went on from being a volunteer to building and presiding over the biggest operating budget for a Basket Brigade charity, the only Basket Brigade that operates Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas anywhere in North America.  People need help and we will be the change they need.

This Easter, 32 of Hamilton’s poorest families will have