PENINSULA
NEWS REVIEW
Volunteers at the core
Throughout the year, volunteers on the Saanich Peninsula are making a difference, page 10
Christmas dinner draws hundreds
Volunteers with the Peninsula Community Christmas Dinner will feed 230 people this year, page 5
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Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The night shift before Christmas C O M M U N I T Y
N E W S
M E D I A
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the town Not a creature was stirring; all the lights were turned down Except for at hotels, and care homes, and stations Where holiday workers pursued their vocations. Zoe Todd News Contributor
A
t the Sidney Pier Hotel, a lone soul holds the front desk. A bastion of cheer against the damp December wind blowing off the Salish Sea. Liam Moes says he signed up for three shifts on Christmas eve and Christmas morning, working almost 16 hours in that time. For Moes, work won’t interrupt the holidays. His family traditionally celebrates Christmas in the evening on Dec. 25, opening gifts and sharing a holiday dinner. “As long as we get a day together, we’re happy,” he said. This isn’t the 21-year-old’s first Christmas at the hotel. In past years, Moes worked at the adjacent Georgia’s Cafe, where staff stockings line the counter. Last year, he spent Christmas morning opening small gifts and cards that customers left in his stocking. Moes doesn’t have a stocking now, but said he looks forward
Zoe Todd/News Contributor
Liam Moes, a conceirge at the Sidney Pier Hotel, will be working on Christmas eve. He’s one of many people on the job overnight, helping ensure the community stays safe and active. to the quiet and calm that comes with working on Christmas eve. “Everybody’s in a good mood,” he said. “I think it’ll be almost just another day, except I guess there will be the stigma that we’re working on Christmas. We always have a good time here.” Though Moes works the last half of his Christmas eve shift alone, he says that won’t stop him from getting in the holiday spirit. “I’m hoping I get permission
to wear the ugliest Christmas sweater I can find. Maybe I’ll get a Santa hat,” Moes said, adding that he’s keeping his sweater options open. “I don’t know if I’ll go as far as anything that lights up though — too much maintenance with electric components.” While Moes prepares his Christmas outfit, officers at the Sidney and North Saanich RCMP detachment prepare for the night shift.
A Christmas tree brightens the windowless inner office space at the station. But the three men working from 7 p.m. on Christmas eve until 7 a.m. on Christmas morning likely won’t have time to enjoy the holiday decor. “Bad things happen all the time and Christmas eve is no different,” said Cpl. Kerry Howse, the night shift watch commander at the station. Though the streets may seem
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sleepy on Christmas eve, Howse said that violence, substance abuse and suicide are more common during the holiday season. “You have to have somebody that’s actually calm enough to deal with that and generally the police have been dealing with that for years.” Please see: Working Christmas eve, page 3