On July 17, Thompson siblings Morgan and Taylar Hanson-Oliveira drove down to Cross Lake in order to donate approximately 2,000 pounds of toys to the local community centre.
The pair was accompanied by their mother Tracy Hanson, who said their 5-x-8 trailer was filled to the brim with gently used toys, board games, electronics, bikes, and a variety of other items they collected over the course of approximately three months.
According to Taylar, who is going into Grade 10 at R.D. Parker Collegiate, this toy drive, called “Christmas in July,” was conceived as a response to the suicide epidemic that rocked this Cree community in the winter of 2016.
Not only did six Cross Lake residents, mostly young people, decided to take their own lives, but 140 others threatened or attempted to do the same thing in the following weeks.
“When we heard about all the youth suicides in Cross Lake, we were thinking of something we could do to cheer up the younger ones,” said Taylar. “We decided to go bigger with it and we asked family, friends just to donate new and gently used toys, and slowly the donations grew and grew.”
For Morgan and Taylar, mental health issues are usually at the forefront of their thoughts, so much so that they both have been members of the RDPC student group Students Offering Support (SOS), which is designed to provide students with counseling services in times of crisis.
“It’s something that’s always been important to us,” said Morgan, who is entering her third year at the University of Manitoba and was a member of SOS in high school. “Even though we’re not there, we’re not living it, it’s just heartbreaking to hear about. So … even if it’s the smallest difference, to cheer up these young people just for a day, that still helps.”
Since the “Christmas in July” toy drive was well received by Cross Lake residents, the siblings are already planning their next charitable enterprise for next summer. While nothing has been finalized yet, their mother said Cross Lake’s “Family Campout” program might be a great candidate for a large-scale donation drive.
“There’s more families that would like to participate in it, but don’t have camping supplies,” said Tracy. “So they were thinking of, maybe next summer, submitting supplies for camping.”
