New pyjamas are one of the traditional Christmas gifts in many homes, but unfortunately, not all families can always afford it.
Once again this year, the Estevan Kinettes decided to put their efforts together to make sure that all local kids have everything it takes to have a real holiday.
The Kinettes’ annual PJ Project fired up on Nov. 16 and will run until Dec. 12. During this time, people willing to support the initiative can drop off new pyjamas or monetary donations for Estevan kids at one of three locations: Jenny Joans, Encompass Fitness Studio (a contactless drop-off bin is set up outside) or Sun Country Hearing.
This year the Kinettes also set up an e-transfer option. If people choose to, they can transfer money to estevankinettes@gmail.com.
"I know some people (may not) want to go to locations, so if they prefer not to go shopping and they still would like to support is, we will absolutely accept money, cash donations. But if people would like to go shopping and drop off (pyjamas), they can drop off at any of three locations or they can message us on the Estevan Kinettes (Facebook) page or the PJ Project (Facebook) page, and we can have a member of the Estevan Kinettes come and pick it up from them if they prefer that," explained PJ Project's spokesperson Chelsey Istace.
Kinettes are collecting pyjamas for kids of all ages from newborns to teenagers. Istace pointed out that teens often wear adults' sizes, which sometimes go as big as adults extra-large (XL). And the bigger sizes of pyjamas were something that they were short on during the previous campaigns.Â
"A lot of people, when they hear 13-year-old or 14-year-old, they tend to still get size 14-16, which some of these kids are wearing adult's sizes medium, larges and extra-larges. So that is the kind of sizes that get forgotten a lot, that is the adult sizes for the kids," said Istace.
The Community Hamper Association and the Angel Tree are currently accepting applications from families willing to receive a Christmas hamper and toys for the kids for the holidays. Pyjamas for the kids will be added to the packages. While Istace didn't know how many people they will end up supporting this year, she said last time they ended up with the list of about 450 kids.
The Estevan Kinettes' PJ Project started about five years ago.
"We had a Kinette from another club coming to our club, and she's actually done this at another club, and she thought it was something that we would like to do here. A lot of our members, we got new pyjamas for Christmas, so it was the tradition that we wanted to start passing on to other people in our community," explained Istace.
She added that since the beginning of the project, every year around the deadline they were starting to get "a little nervous," worrying that they won't be able to meet the goal. But every year the community pulled through to make sure that every kid has new pyjamas on the holiday. And the Kinettes are always grateful for the support.
