Workers on the Great Plains Power Station site, administered by Burns & McDonnell, came together for a holiday fundraising drive that raised nearly $12,000 for the Salvation Army’s Adopt a Family program.
Jadelynn Wilcox, B&M’s site safety administrator, organized the effort with the help of co-workers representing each of the companies involved with the power plant.
“This was a site-wide project,” Wilcox explained. “Basically all of our subcontractors and companies and vendors, everybody has had a part in it and been extremely, extremely generous.”
The Adopt a Family program is administered by the Salvation Army (SA). The SA finds local families who are in need or experiencing financial struggles and provides a profile of that family to their adopters. The families remain unidentified to protect their privacy, so the profile does not include any names or contact information.
Wilcox used those family profiles to create a Christmas that is sure to be incredibly memorable for the 11 families they will help this year.
“What we’re doing for each and every family that we’ve adopted is actually supplying their whole Christmas,” Wilcox said. “I’ve done little menus with Christmas breakfast … and then a menu for Christmas supper.
“In addition, we’ve also got stockings for each family member, and five gifts per child, as well as two outfits and Christmas jammies to sleep in the night before.”
Keith King works on the Great Plains site as an employee of Graham Construction. He spread awareness of the project with his fellow Graham workers and helped wherever he could.
“It is fantastic,” King said when asked about what they’ve accomplished. “Back when I was a little guy, my mum was a single parent, and we had a private Santa like this.” He paused to collect himself and then said simply, “It’s close,” and put his hand on his chest.
“I think it’s a direct reflection of how the power station is run,” said Nile Barry with Dynamo Electric. “Everybody works together, everybody comes together as a family, and I think that community mindset transferred over into being able to get so much money together.”
Lt. Lester Ward, who heads the SA in Moose Jaw with his wife, Lt. Almeta Ward, said that the power station crew had created Christmas for families that might otherwise have gone without.
“We’re so thankful to Great Plains power plant for their generosity and what they’ve done,” Ward expressed. “This is amazing, you know, almost $12,000 that’s been donated here, and gifts. … What a way to meet the needs of people in the community.”
“It’s heartwarming to see how we’re making a difference in the community, especially with families that have children,” said Jamie Nagle. “I work for PCL Construction, and I helped gather funds from workers, management, everybody collectively on the PCL team to help support this great cause.
“We did this to just make a difference and help people. It’s important that people get to celebrate and have a Christmas.”
