The Anchor Weekly – The Chestermere Lake News

CHESTERMERE – The Christmas spirit was alive and well on this bright sunny Saturday and there was certainly no shortage of entertainment at the Christmas with Dignity celebration on December 15th at the Chestermere Town Hall. When entering the sun filled atrium you were hit with a large Christmas tree, huge sounding orchestra and standing room only of people enjoying the festivities. In the upper level the Chestermere High School Jazz band played a number of tunes and many talented students had a solo performance. These students obviously work hard and practice often, and it shows in their near flawless [...]

CHESTERMERE – The holiday season is a wonderful time to be giving, whether it is time or monetary donations, it is always welcome. The UFA Small Town Heroes contest has been going on for several months with a number of events that were planned throughout the province and finally winding up the campaign in late October. Our local hero, Alex Halet, has been one of the people around Chestermere who have been a focal point of the UFA Small Town Hero contest. He and his teammates contributed more than $1 million to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation with the World’s [...]

CHESTERMERE – If you’ve been to a local business in Chestermere lately and seen Christmas With Dignity donation boxes still sitting on the counter, you might have wondered why these donations weren’t scooped up and quickly used to assist local families for Christmas. If this was your initial thought, you’re not alone, as one Anchor Weekly reader sent in this letter on Dec. 27: Dear Editor, I stopped at The Bargain Shop in Chestermere today and noticed that a Christmas With Dignity donation box, full of cash, was still sitting on the front counter by the till. Since I assumed [...]

CHESTERMERE – Christmas With Dignity is a local charity that helps families in the community throughout the year, not only during the holiday season. This past August, they helped a working mom to get to work by providing her with gas cards. Community Resource Coordinator Angela Normand said that this family’s situation was, and still is, complicated. She said that they tried to hook them up with other outside support opportunities, but that there there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to help. In the end, they ended up providing them with some food, but the most support they [...]

CHESTERMERE – Despite its name, Christmas With Dignity is a local charity that helps families in the community throughout the year, not only during the holiday season.

The organization, which came together in 2007, does more than collect toys and pass out food hampers. In fact, they are an emergency fund that helps provide resources and money to meet the basic necessities like food, medical and dental services, utilities and other needs. One way that the group has helped out recently, is by providing assistance to a local family who needed help paying their rent. Community Resource Coordinator Angela Normand said [...]

CHESTERMERE – Although the Chestermere charity group Christmas with Dignity is named after the upcoming holiday, the organization helps local residents in need year round. Christmas with Dignity only really lived up to its name in 2007, the year it started. That holiday season, the group focused on raising money to give to local parents who were in need, so they could pay utility bills or other outstanding balances, and “have dignity by buy gifts for their kids during the holidays.” Patty Sproule, director of Community Services in Chestermere, started Christmas with Dignity because there was nothing in the way [...]