The next time Moose Jaw police respond to a situation involving children, they will be able to hand out calming handmade stuffed animals, courtesy of the SaskTel Pioneers.
Kristian Sjoberg, president of the SaskTel Pioneers Moose Jaw chapter, presented about 20 handmade stuffed critters to Const. Rod Zoerb on Jan. 12 in front of the Moose Jaw Police Service headquarters.
The police service was the first emergency services-related organization that the Pioneers considered for the handmade animals because of the various issues it handles, explained Sjoberg. If members had made hundreds of stuffed animals, they would have divided them among the police, firefighters and paramedics.
While the Regina and Saskatoon chapters distribute stuffed animals to various organizations several times a year, this was the first time the Moose Jaw chapter had done something similar, Sjoberg said. This was also the first time he convinced retirees to “come out of hiding” to participate in a project.
“They were really excited, and there were about seven or eight of them that came out on a regular basis and did all the sewing,” he continued. “So, it was a nice project for them to get together and a social activity for them to do, as well as they get to give back.”
One of the major pillars of the SaskTel Pioneers is to provide social activities for members and give back to the community, which they accomplished with this project, Sjoberg said. He expected the group to sew more stuffed animals throughout the year but was unsure how fast they would pump out the critters.
The members rented a room at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre for two months to make the homemade creations. They set up sewing stations and areas to stuff the animals.
“It was actually kind of cool,” Sjoberg said.
However, the pioneers can’t continually rent a room at the cultural centre to make these creations, said Sjoberg. Even though the venue knew this was for a good cause and gave the Pioneers the artist-in-residence rate — “which was nice and cheap” — the cost adds up for eight people to use a room 10 times a month.
“It’ll be on them (the volunteers) now that we’ve got the ball rolling … maybe at someone’s house,” he added. “They’ll call me when they’ve got more done.”
Besides these handmade creations, the SaskTel Pioneers have been busy with other projects during the past year.
Before Christmas, the group participated in a Christmas Wish Angel program. Members went to care homes and schools and learned who needed a gift and couldn’t afford one or wouldn’t be receiving one.
The group helped 200 residents in care homes and 201 students at several schools through this program, with all the gifts adding up to $6,500. This was the largest total ever for the Pioneers.
A future goal for the Pioneers is to distribute thousands of books to both school divisions in Moose Jaw, said Sjoberg. There are two large pallets with tons of books in storage, but it takes time to sort them.
The Pioneers are also supporting the Moose Jaw Gamers Association’s 2022 Winter Gaming Expo in February and Telemiracle in March.
