The New Year is Here!

It is certainly hard to believe that we have crossed into the new Millennium, but here we are. Hope Cottage has been a very busy place for the past few months. As you know we moved into our new home on October 11, 1999. This meant that the staff were totally occupied with getting everything back in place, or at least finding a place to put most things. Just as the place was getting settled, along came Christmas. As you may or may not know, Christmas at Hope Cottage is a very busy and exciting time. From the first of December to Christmas day there is a steady stream of people coming to the door with a variety of gifts and goods. The goods range from turkeys, a variety of foods, candy, chocolates, clothing and toiletry items, cards and donations. The food is packed away in our storage rooms, the turkeys in freezers and the clothing, toiletry items and gifts for our patrons are placed upstairs.

By the time Christmas rolls around, the upstairs room is almost impassable. Christmas sees another group of volunteers arrive to organize the gifts, candies etc. into Christmas bags to be passed out to our Christmas guests. These people work very diligently for three or four days to produce 125 to 150 gift bags, which all look the same. This is very important.

Christmas day 1999 arrives, and this year we serve our meal at 1:00 PM. Maxine is in charge of the Christmas day festivities. Our cooking crew arrives at about 10:00 AM. This year markes the tenth year that Mike Kontac has been the "Chief Cook" for our Christmas meal. Mike and his trusty companions get busy with the preparation of the vegetables, lay out the utensils, get the turkey ready (these have been pre-cooked and are already sliced) prepare the gravy, all at once.

The pies for dessert arrive at about 11:00 and a number of volunteers are quickly assigned the task of

cutting and placing the pies on plates. Micky MacDougall from St. Theresa's Parish has been organizing the pie delivery for many years. By about 12:30 PM things are now starting to look very organized and a sense of calm is replacing the chaos of earlier in the day.

Somewhere during all the activity Santa appears ready for action.

The group gathers for a quiet prayer and the doors are opened. One hundred and twenty five people come through the doors today, and another ten opt to take meals home.

Hope Cottage - 2435 Brunswick St., Halifax, NS B3K 2Z4.
Tel. (902) 429-7968
Layout & Production: J.C. Canales-Leyton under agreement with
Street Feat, The Voice of The Poor

This is the first Christmas in the newly renovated and enlarged premises. The added room gives the guests a feeling of space that translates into an amazing feeling of calm and rejoicing. People are no longer expected to eat quickly so that the remaining people can come in and be served. The present seating capacity of about 90, is coincidentally large enough to allow the first person plenty of time to complete his/her meal before the 91st person sits down to eat. Enough cannot be said about the new addition and its effect on the operation, the staff, the volunteers and the guests. It has truly been a God send. Archbishop Prendergast drops by to visit with the volunteers and guests. Everyone gets to visit Santa on the way out to receive one of the bags packed earlier that week.

The weather cooperates again this year, rain early in the day, changing to sun by noon and pleasant the rest of the day. All in all, Christmas day is again an unqualified success, thanks to the unselfish efforts of many people over the entire month of December. A sincere thank you to each and every one of them.

Christmas day is now behind the staff of Hope Cottage and it is time to again sort through and pack away the Christmas decorations. Nothing goes to waste. The upstairs room and office are quickly put back in shape. The next assignment is to prepare receipts for all those who have generously sent us donations over the past three weeks. Another group of six volunteers arrives to assist Maxine to record, write receipts, address, stuff and seal envelopes. Three hundred and fifty receipts were prepared for mailing over a three day period. Now we are just about ready to put our feet up. The staff get to start taking their well deserved three days of holidays, and we slide into the regular routine of Hope Cottage for another year.

THEN...

...and NOW!

Open House

By now most people are aware that Hope Cottage has completed a major expansion and up-grading. While most people know about this event, many have not yet had the opportunity to visit with us. For this reason the Board of Directors is planning an Open House for Saturday, February 26, 2000. This event will start with Mass at St. Patrick's at 12:00 noon celebrated by Fr. George Leach followed by the Open House from 1:00 - 3:00 PM. Everyone Welcome.

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