Santa in the North 2023 - a year of firsts
The 23rd annual Santa in the North trip, which took place at the beginning of December, was a tremendous success, and we owe it all to the unwavering support of our partners, sponsors, and communities. Thanks to their generosity, we were able to spread holiday cheer by delivering gifts to children across the Athabasca Basin.
This heartwarming endeavour, months in the making, saw Santa's journey through Black Lake, Stony Rapids, Fond du Lac, and Uranium City.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the Saskatchewan Roughriders for their invaluable contribution, bringing aboard Jorgen Hus and Brett Lauther as new helpers for Santa. We are truly thankful to the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation for making this collaboration possible.
Under the exceptional leadership of Kristy Jackson from Athabasca Basin Development, we were able to ensure that all the books gifted to students were authored by Indigenous writers, a meaningful shift from previous years.
Each book and gift was thoughtfully sorted by grade in advance, ensuring their age-appropriateness.
Despite encountering challenging weather conditions that prevented us from reaching Wollaston Lake, we were heartened by the local Santa's ability to personally distribute gifts, books, and healthy snacks to the children of that community.
This year marked a special first as Rise Air’s Santa made his inaugural visit to Uranium City, directly delivering books and gifts to the school, a departure from previous practices of delivery to the airport.
We are immensely grateful to our gold-level sponsors, Cameco, Graham Construction, and Orano, whose unwavering support made this initiative possible.
Additionally, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to our other exceptional sponsors: SIGA - Sharing Success, Athabasca Basin Development, SSR Mining, Snowbird Aviation Services, The Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, Optek Solutions, Eagle Feather News, Symmetry PR, and the team at Rise Air. Their support has truly made a positive impact on the lives of the children in these communities.
Pattison Media thought their battlefordsNOW, paNOW, MeadowlakeNOW, SaskNOW and other portals wrote this story about the experience of bringing smiles to the children in the north. Read it here.
Eagle Feather News is also writing a story which will be available here as soon as it is published.
