December to Remember returns to Waterloo

Santa and his helpers greeting children in cars for the December to Remember drive-thru event hosted by KidsAbility on Dec.3.

Santa greeted children and their families Saturday for the 15th annual December to Remember event hosted by KidsAbility in Waterloo.

Seventy-five families were invited to drive up to the centre and receive not only a bag of toys for the young ones, but also a package for the parents.

Members from the Waterloo Regional Police Service and the Waterloo Fire Department were also present to welcome the cars.

All gifts given to the families were donated by members of the community.

“For some children, it’s their only opportunity to have a visit with Santa and for some children, it’s a bit scary to meet him for the first time so it’s a bit of a safer way to do it,” said Linda Kenny, CEO of KidsAbility.

Families were also given a gift card to visit the Gift of Lights display at Bingemans.

This was the third consecutive year that the event was done in a drive-thru format due to COVID-19.

“When we started planning it in the late summer, we still weren’t really sure what the status was going to be,” said Kenny. “We decided that we were going to do one more year of the drive-by, but hopefully next year we can invite families back into our centre.“

With many families feeling the financial pinch over the holidays, this was an opportunity for children to receive a special toy from Saint Nick.

“For some families that we identified as really struggling, we also have been able to put some grocery gift cards into their bag as well. It has been a very difficult year for many families, so our social work team is really great at being able to identify some of those families who may just need a little extra help,” Kenny said.