‘Twas the week before Christmas break and all through St. Michael School’s festively decorated gym, hundreds of students eagerly enjoyed a tasty meal that 10 blue-and-red dressed elves served up.
Those elves belonged to Blue Whale Financial Solutions, which chose the elementary school this year as part of its annual Christmas outreach initiative. The lunch — held on Dec. 14 and catered by Super M Meats — included turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, Jello, cranberries, gravy and cake.
Children oohed and aahed when they walked into the gym and saw the decorations, which teachers had put up the day before. Several strings of Christmas lights hung from the wall and basketball hoops, small Christmas trees were stationed in a corner, kids’ artwork was on the walls, while every table was covered with a green tablecloth and battery-powered candles.
Meanwhile, most educators wore Christmas sweaters with humorous messages.
“This is fantastic. This is a tradition of ours. Every year is to give back to the community at Christmas time,” said Joe Moffatt, CEO of Blue Whale Financial Solutions. “It started out as a different idea than what we had been doing and it’s grown into something that everybody on the team really gets excited about.
“And seeing the reaction on the kids’ faces just inspires us every year to do it,” he continued. “And we’ve come to enjoy it. And it’s as much for them … as it is for us. … So it’s an opportunity to give back and watch everybody enjoy Christmas.”
The company has a committee that picks a school for lunch. The members meet with several schools and review criteria to determine which one will be the lucky recipient, Moffatt explained. The goal is to visit every school in Moose Jaw.
Blue Whale had held this event for several years before the pandemic but could not hold any lunches during the past two years. However, Moffatt said his staff was thrilled to return to volunteering this way.
“Christmas is an opportunity to give back. It’s an opportunity to enjoy our community, our family (and) our friends,” he added. “This is just one way of many that everybody does it. … (We) just try to inspire everybody to give back and lend a helping hand and help your neighbour and enjoy what we have.”
Everyone at St. Michael School was excited about the lunch and to share a Christmas meal, said principal Gail Cyrenne. The 320 students and dozen staff greatly appreciate Blue Whale choosing them as the lucky school this year.
This is the first time the school has hosted Blue Whale’s Christmas outreach lunch.
“The kids are very excited. We had our Christmas concert last night and they were like, ‘This is better than the Christmas concert,’” Cyrenne laughed. “So, I think just being able to gather again together is really important.”
The school had to borrow tables and chairs from other schools to host the lunch, she added, while the decorating occurred quickly because many hands helped.
