After a difficult year for the Northwest Territories, Tracy Cross Gauthier is hoping Hay River’s annual Secret Santa tradition will be extra special.
“There’s a tremendous amount of support for this program,” she said. “There always has been, but people are aware of the losses that some people have felt and continue to feel, so they want to make it a bit more special.”
Cross Gauthier has been organizing Hay River’s Secret Santa program since 2020, when she took over the role from Michelle Schaub.
The program has been operating since the 1990s. It solicits donations from community members and local organizations, which are then used to purchase toys for children in Hay River, on K’atl’odeeche First Nation, and as of this year, also in Enterprise.
All three communities were evacuated during this summer’s wildfires. The majority of buildings in Enterprise burned down, and many community members have still not returned.
“It’s been an incredibly devastating year for the Hamlet of Enterprise and we want to extend whatever help we can,” Cross Gauthier said. “We’re absolutely including them this year.
“It’s the first time that they’ve been included, and for obvious reasons,” she added. “There’s been a lot of people that have been displaced.”
Cross Gauthier and her team, which includes her husband, began accepting donations for this year’s Secret Santa in mid-November. Donations can be made by e-transfer, by mail or in person, and support has already been pouring in.
“There’s been a lot of interest to help this year, obviously due to the trauma that the community has been through over the last year, particularly this past summer,” she said.
Donation efforts will reach a crescendo with a toy drive on Dec. 9. Toys will then be distributed by a volunteer team of emergency personnel on Dec. 16.
A portion of donated funds will also be used to purchase grocery gift cards for local families – a detail Cross Gauthier added to the program when she took up the mantle as facilitator in 2020.
“There’s been a few changes that I’ve implemented over the last two or three years and it’s kind of streamlined things a little bit,” she said. “For example, we used to give out frozen turkeys and things like that, but we found that there was a duplication of services and some people didn’t want a turkey. So we’ve gone to gift cards for their local grocery stores, which helps the local economy, and it gives the recipients the option of how they want to cook their Christmas dinner.
“I think two years ago we started using the gift cards, and we used some from the Ehdah Cho Store on the reserve, so that spreads the donation dollars across the river as well.”
The focus of the donations will be on families with children up to 17 years old, but “anyone can put anyone’s name down,” according to Cross Gauthier.
“We gather names anonymously and we have a variety of sources that provide us with families that need a helping hand during Christmas, including schools, government agencies and friends and family of these folks,” she said.
Community ‘very generous’
Last year, roughly 100 homes received $60 grocery cards, and close to 200 children received gifts.
Cross Gauthier admits facilitating Hay River’s beloved Secret Santa tradition takes “quite a bit of work” but noted that it’s a concentrated effort.
“I started probably a week or so ago, and it’ll be over pretty close towards the 16th of December,” she said. “That’s when the majority of the gifts will be delivered by the emergency personnel. There’s always a few leftover things that my husband and I need to take care, but by the 16th, 17th, 18th, somewhere in there, it’s pretty much over. It’s an intense time frame, but it’s only for four or five weeks, so it’s manageable.”
Despite a busy few weeks every December, Cross Gauthier continues to be motivated by the “need” for the program in the region, and is filled with pride in her community when it concludes each year.
“This community has always been very generous,” she said. “As long as somebody’s willing to run this program, I think it will be successful in the sense that they’re able to help out and bring a little Christmas cheer from the rest of the community to the families in need.
“I don’t mind saying that I was a little scared when I took the program on. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing, so I kind of fumbled through it a little bit, but the satisfaction and the sense of pride in Hay River and the supporters of this program was instant when I started, so when it’s all over, instead of being tired and going ‘I’m glad it’s over,’ I’m actually rejuvenated and have ideas for next year.”