Giving gifts to less privileged kids at Christmas is all about empathy for Sophie Rombu of Glenwood Elementary.
The 12-year-old is spokesperson for the school’s Angel Project for the Burnaby Christmas Bureau, a program that makes sure local low-income families have food and presents during the holidays.
“Just imagine you are that person, and you weren’t privileged enough. Getting gifts is about privilege. Imagine how giving a gift to someone would make them feel. It would make them feel like they were on top of the world,” Sophie said.
Glenwood Elementary has made the Angel Project an annual tradition for the past few years. Angel Projects usually involved a group of people, coworkers, friends or, in this case, students, collecting unwrapped gifts for the bureau’s toy room. This year, there’s a Christmas tree in the school hallway, and it’s covered with tags that have the name and age of a typical (not actual) child registered with the Burnaby Christmas Bureau. Kids or parents can take the tags home and buy an age-appropriate gift and leave it under the tree, unwrapped. The gifts then go the bureau’s toy room, where registered parents pick presents for their children.
This year, Glenwood took 20 angel cards, and they’re going fast.
“It’s good because it gives gifts to the children who can’t get gifts, and I feel that could be me,” Sophie said. “I could be in that position, not getting gifts at Christmas, and that’s terrible.”
For Sophie, receiving a gift at Christmas means a lot when you’re a kid.
“It means that there’s people caring for me. There are people loving me. They want to give me something. I feel special,” she said.
And giving gifts is also rewarding.
“It makes you feel really good inside, (like) you’ve done something good with your life, you have a purpose,” she added.
To organize an Angel Project or learn more about the bureau, go to www.burnabycommunityconnections.com.
