A section of the many attendees at Thursday evening’s event.
ST. PETERS--The Hyacinth Richardson Educational Awareness Foundation (HREAF) and Secours Populaire Français (SPF) helped spread some holiday cheer to about 115 children and their parents on Thursday evening when it presented gifts to the children and gift baskets, a large bag of rice plus a ham or a turkey to them.
NA MP Hyacinth Richardson with Santa, some of the kids and their toys.
The rice, 115 bags in total, was donated by the St. Maarten Tzu Chi Foundation. The large crowd of attendees was also treated to snacks and drinks at the event which was held at Rupert I. Maynard Youth Community Center.
HREAF official National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Hyacinth Richardson said the foundation had a list of 115 children who would receive a nice age-appropriate gift. There were some extra gifts for children who walked in and were not on the list. Additionally, the foundation helped 120 families to complete their holiday meals by donating 115 gift baskets as well as either one of 60 hams or one of 60 turkeys.
Richardson told The Daily Herald that the foundation holds this event annually to give back to the community. He said there were many children whose parents could not afford to purchase them a gift and the foundation is happy to help bring smiles on the faces of these children at Christmas time.
He alluded to one parent from a previous event who had indicated that had it not been for the gift they had received at the event; their child would not have had a gift for Christmas, as the parents were not working. He said stories like this make it worthwhile, as the goal is to bring smiles on the faces of children, help them to enjoy the season a little better and help put food on the tables of many.
He is grateful to HREAF’s sponsor SPF for helping the foundation to touch many lives for the season of giving. Richardson said a lot of hard work went into putting the event together and he is grateful for the assistance of everyone who helped make it a reality.
Live musical steel pan entertainment was provided to the audience during the event, adding that extra touch for the holiday season.
The foundation has been actively assisting persons in the community, including in the wake of Hurricane Irma and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when some 400 families were assisted with food baskets.
In 2023 the foundation will be headed to Antigua for the 52nd year of the Leeward Islands Debating Competition (LIDC).
