Stratford siblings collect donations to fill stockings for Outreach Centre clients
Cameron Gordon is many things: a Special Olympics athlete, a model, a former Easter Seals ambassador for people living with disabilities. And since last year, he's also been the organizer of a holiday fundraiser along with his older sister Jamie.
Stockings from the Heart was born when Gordon saw unhoused people struggling at a Charlottetown encampment as the weather got colder and the holidays approached.
"Me and my mother [were] driving and I see homeless people and I felt really upset," he said. "So we started thinking."
Gordon, who has Down syndrome, is collecting money on a GoFundMe page as well as donations in person. The 23-year-old says it "feels really, really good" to give back.
His mother, Catherine MacInnis, says last year they donated 53 stockings to the Community Outreach Centre in Charlottetown. This year, they hope to do even more.
"He was very upset when we had seen people in the encampment last year and it really broke his heart. He was actually very mad that people were in that situation, mad at the circumstances that might have resulted in them coming there," MacInnis said. "So we got home and we talked about that and about what we could do."
The stockings are filled with everything from soap and shampoo to hats and mittens, and even some chocolates to brighten people's days.
Cameron Gordon and his mom Catherine MacInnis put together 53 stockings last year, and hope to exceed that number this holiday season. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
"They deliver them or or distribute them to people that they know are in need," said MacInnis. "We've met a couple of people because they came up to us; otherwise it's very private."
For the next week or so, the family will be driving around the community to pick up donations, and finishing up shopping for gifts.
"This year I'm doing my best and my hardest to get more, 100 million of the bags for people who need it," Gordon said.
The items will be collected right up until Christmas Eve, when they will be dropped off at the outreach centre. Gordon says he hopes it will be bring smiles to the recipients' faces "and make their day really special."
