“You are helping some people who haven’t had as many breaks as you and me. You’re being good sports.”
It’s Nov. 15, not a flake of snow on the ground, but I’ve found a loophole which enables the wishing of a very early “Merry Christmas” — that loophole being our Sporting Christmas kickoff today.
So Merry Christmas, all you good sports out there.
The phrase “good sports” was first used in conjunction with Sporting Christmas a week into our inaugural run in 1976, when the SP’s Larry Tucker wrote: “I would like to say ‘thank you’ but I know you aren’t asking for thanks. You are helping some people who haven’t had as many breaks as you and me. You’re being good sports.”
The phrase has been used hundreds of times since in our Sporting Christmas updates, because it’s comfortable and true and it really fits the situation. We raise money for the Salvation Army’s Christmas hamper program, and we rely on the help of the many good sports who live among us — you, your neighbour, the people down the street or in your workplace.
We can express the value of this effort in dollars, easily enough — that’s one way to go about it. Good sports have provided our fund with precisely $2,516,609.01 in the nearly five decades we’ve been doing this — from our smallest total, $3,003.18 in 1980, to our largest, $123,551.42 in 2020.
That’s a lot of numbers. Digits piled up year by year — pennies, loonies, $5 bills, all of it going to help the most vulnerable among us. But it’s important to remember that recipients are at the heart of what we do, and that’s where the real value of this charity lies. The money is vital, but the people it helps is what keeps us going every year, and why so many give to the cause.
A fine fellow who heads up a generous fundraising effort for us every year emailed me last week to ask if we’re doing Sporting Christmas again. I was happy to reply that yes, we are. I know he was glad to hear it, and that we’ll receive a very kind donation from his group of good sports a few weeks down the road.
High prices for housing and food create a daunting challenge, and the Christmas season will be a massive stressor for some. How can they provide a turkey on the table, gifts for their kids, when there’s nothing left in the bank? Well, we can help. We want to help. And we’re thankful for the work done by the Salvation Army.
If you’d like to provide some assistance, donations can be made online at thestarphoenix.com/sportingchristmas
They can also be mailed or dropped off at:
Sporting Christmas
c/o The Salvation Army
38 Bateman Cresc.
Saskatoon, Sask.
S7H 3C4
Please make sure to mark your donation as “Sporting Christmas.”
Thank you, good sports, and we’ll keep you updated over the next month and a half.
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