With 98 kids on the list to receive gifts this year, the project is always accepting cheque and cash donations, with 100 per cent going to provide for HIV positive babies and children. The project is hoping to deliver to 138, if more toys come through. As of Thursday, 50 toys had been donated, with cash donations possibly covering 20 more.
“Last year, we had over 400 kids on the list to receive Christmas presents,” says Morgan Jayne Project leader Fred Makowecki. “We knocked the list down, thinking the times are tough on everybody.
“We can do as many kids as there is heart in Drumheller to do,” says Makowecki.
Makowecki is expecting packages of toys will be on the plane by Thursday, but they always accept money donations.
Donations and toy drop-offs can be given to Makowecki at Image Crafter Signs in Drumheller, or by visiting www.themorganjayneproject.com
“We are expecting that many kids are going to be left out, some will be looking in from outside the gates while the 98 get presents.”
For just one day, kids on the island who have experienced three hurricanes this year, can be as happy as any other kid on the planet is on Christmas, Makowecki says.
“They’re not the ones who are sick, not the ones who are dying, we give them one day to be a kid,” Makowecki says.
To date, the project has saved more than 500 babies born HIV positive in Roatan, a small island off the coast of Honduras. The majority of support behind that success has come from people in Drumheller.
“It’s like painting a fence that’s never finished,” says Makowecki, “it just keeps going on, and on, and on.”
Every single cent put into the project goes straight to Roatan. Not a dollar has been spent on anything but.
“Nothing gets skimmed off the top for anything, we’re really proud of where we’re at with nothing being spent other than on the kids.”