Edmonton Sun's Adopt-A-Teen drive for this year did not get enough gifts for more than 8,000 teenagers in the area. According to the publication, 4, 791 of these teenagers might not have any present by Christmas morning.
Donors have been giving a $50 gift card under the Christmas tree for these teens but as of today, 4, 791 teens still have not gotten anything. Edmonton Sun reported that just recently, Ottewell Junior High School in Edmonton, Alberta did their part as they have raised $1,400 for the Adopt-A-Teen campaign.
A 14-year-old teen, Sophia Wojdak, attending Ottewell Junior High School and who is a ninth grader and a member of the student council, said that she has a lot of privileges during Christmas time and they get a lot of presents but not all teenagers get that. She added that it is nice to help out and make sure that everyone has a great Christmas. The student council asked each student to give $5 for the Adopt-A-Teen campaign.
Another 14-year-old, Rajan Maghera, said that people might think that $5 is too much to ask since it could already buy chips and meals at fast food but they believe that such amount would be of great help to someone. Maghera added, "It adds up very quickly. You can feel like even with $5 you can make such a big difference."
The principal of Ottewell Junior High School, Ron Thompson, said that it was easy for them to choose the charity because the impact to the students was great. He noted that the campaign had a connection to the students because helping the same age group appealed a lot to their school.
Aside from Ottewell Junior High School, Holy Cross Academie Internationale School was also able to come up with $600 for the Adopt-A-Teen drive. McNally High School students also raised funds for the campaign via their annual pancake breakfast.
Edmonton Sun works with two other Edmonton Charities, the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton, and Santas Anonymous, Global News reported. These organizations said that they give teens a gift card so that they could pick the gifts themselves instead of getting presents that they do not like.
Any amount is being asked by these charities. People wanting to support Adopt-A-Teen could visit www.adoptateenedmonton.ca or call the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton at 780-414-7694.
