Vegreville News Advertiser - November 25, 2020

Fill a Cruiser Cruises to the Holiday Spirit

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Fill a Cruiser is an initiative by Vegreville Christmas Bureau, Town of Vegreville, Municipal Enforcement Services Department, Vegreville RCMP, and Alberta Fish and Wildlife. At this event, there was a cruiser set up at Walmart parking lot on November 16, 17, and 19 and at Canadian Tire parking lot on November 20 so that people bring toys, non-perishable items, gift cards, or financial donations. Ken Podoborozny, Community Peace Officer with the Town of Vegreville said, “We had a blast as a group with “Fill a Cruiser with Toys” which has never been done with the enforcement agencies before.

With the families struggling financially we received very generous donations from people stopping by with cash, toys, and non-perishable items. Families wanting pictures with Santa Claus and the elves were welcomed but masks had to be worn and we tried to do social distancing, but the little kids still wanted to hug Santa or the elves.

The children were told that S/Sgt Terry Hyggen had the RCMP plane sent to the North Pole to bring Santa and his elves to Vegreville so that we could help with this toy drive. He was very upset with his two elves on the plane ride down as they were very naughty and misbehaved duringthe flight and they might get “coal” in their stockings if they don’t start behaving.

Santa is reminding the kids that they need to get their Christmas lists to the North Pole quickly as the elves are hard at work making toys.

To date, we have raised $1,900 where every night, we also collected a cruiser full of toys and non perishable items. We were really pleased with the community’s response.”

The team at the Fill a Cruiser event are Representatives from Vegreville Christmas Bureau is Jennifer Hladilo and Debbie Uskiw, Representatives from Municipal Enforcement Services Department are Ken Podoborozny and Garret Perepeluk, and Representatives from Vegreville RCMP are S/Sgt. Terry Hyggen and Cpl. Ray Stack and of course everyone’s favourite, Santa Clause

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

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