Christine Whelan, FEO, November 7, 2024, VOL. 6 ISSUE 5
On Saturday, December 7, Frosty the Christmas Horse, Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves return to the parking lot of The Plaice in Fort Erie for another festive and memorable day.
Gary Hass, a resident of Fort Erie and member of Team Frosty, says they have been building on what worked in the past few years while adding new layers.
He shared how the team was born. “First, we saw some of the people who were the big supporters of my success — being in the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Air Cadets — in the community, who are now the ones relying on assistance.”
Gary himself began to feel he needed to take some kind of action.
An opportunity presented itself. “A group of us were hanging out at The Plaice on Garrison Road. One of our friends in this group used to own a corner store. He happened to have a car full of items in the parking lot as he was moving inventory. A family new to Canada came into the restaurant. They had nothing. So, he told his daughter to go to the car and retrieve tables full of toys and teddy bears.”
Lauren Spada brought her horse into it as Frosty and grew, from there.
50/50 Draw
The ticket sales for the 50/50 draw wound up at the end of October. “Half will go to support our milk campaign for COPE and half will be four payouts of $1,250, based on the football game on November 13. The Bills vs Dolphins. And that’s at The Plaice.”
The Barrel Campaign
Gary has been in contact with local businesses and says he’s looking at a combination of venues from the past as well as new venues.
The Plaice is their headquarters. “We’ve brought on the Breakfast Beacon Restaurant, Papa’s Pizza, Rona. The Mill Greenhouses is preparing a large Christmas event for the start of December and our COPE barrel will be their highlight.”
Other locations include Walmart, Bill and Todd’s Barber Shop, Little Bridgeburg, Garrison Automotive, Crystal Chandelier, Gift Baskets Niagara Flower Shop, and Maxsym Small Engine Repairs. For an updated list, check Gary Hass’ Facebook page.
“The Fort Erie Meteors will have a couple of host games where they will have their barrels out.”
The Milk Campaign
Once again, the group is raising money to purchase long-shelf-life milk for Fort Erie’s COPE.
Gary explained the importance of milk. “Children like cereal. And when milk is added to cereal, children will happily take in the nutrition these two ingredients provide.” He described the chain of influence. If the children go to school with breakfast in them, they are more likely to do better in school.
Colouring Books
Team Frosty has been distributing the colouring books around the community, courtesy of the Fort Erie Race Track management. They have been very supportive since day one, according to Hass.
“Samantha is our God-sent” Samantha Meli, a young, local artist and author, has helped in many ways. “She’ll be there on December 7 again this year promoting her books.”
The Christmas story was put on YouTube last year. “This year, Fort Erie Radio has invited our narrator to come in and redo it to improve the quality.”
Gary invites teachers to contact him for colouring books for their students. They can email him at frostythechristmashorse@hotmail.com and Gary can deliver them.
What’s New?
“We’ve had some anonymous donors offer us money to help. So, now we have a peanut butter incentive and a tuna incentive. We then had two people match the funding. Now we’re looking at purchasing multi-vitamins.”
A new character in the colouring book, is Lacey, the cow. “We wanted to include a cow this year because we were surprised to see, at our past events, just how many people have never come close to a horse. Lacey can highlight our milk contributions as well as contribute to the Christmas story.”
The cow is owned by JP Beauvais, proprietor of Maxsym Small Engine Repairs in Fort Erie. “JP’s our newest member on board.”
All Donations Go To COPE
“Our goal is to provide for Fort Erie.”
Community Outreach Program Erie (COPE) has been helping the Greater Fort Erie community with services such as a food bank since 1983.
“I gotta tell ya, there’s no group of people in Fort Erie that works as hard and is as caring as the people at COPE.”
Having An Impact
Last year, Team Frosty gave out some of these colouring books. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that some of the young children who got the books gave up some of their summer events, like birthday parties, to collect for COPE,” Gary shared. “This is the impact we wanted to have, influencing the next generation to help their community.”
He has also heard from some of those who have accessed the services of COPE that they are looking at giving back, when they can, by volunteering somewhere. “It’s the community supporting itself.”
An Eye-opening Statistic
“One out of eight people will use the food banks.” Gary found this statistic in a Brock University survey.
“When you think of that stat and look at the demographics of Fort Erie. We have a lot of seniors and a lot of people who are on a fixed income. It’s not just the marginally employed and the unemployed. We have a large agricultural population here which is seasonal. Added to this, some people are gainfully employed but are still struggling. There are a lot of people who are one paycheck away from having nothing.”
Saturday, December 7 at The Plaice
The kids can feed Lacey and Frosty mints and carrots and get their pictures taken. “The Air Cadets are coming out again this year. We have students from GFESS coming out to help.” Gary says they can offer students a chance to work off some community service hours.
And what a great way to get those hours. “They can put a costume on and move around the people at the event. If they have the skills, as some Air Cadets did last year, they can pick up a musical instrument and start to sing.”
When asked if volunteers are needed, Gary replied, “We can always use volunteers who can help in any way.”
Much Gratitude
Gary would like to thank those who have recognized the need in Fort Erie and helped in whatever way they are or have been. They are moving the town one step further.
“We are overwhelmed by the support of those who come forward with donations, with anonymous donations, individuals and groups who help us, the regulars. We’ll have the politicians come out. The mayor is a big supporter, along with Lionel and Cynthia Pereira of The Plaice and Lauren Spada with her horse. They are the reasons we can do all of this. They are our backbone supporters.
Saturday, December 7th, 1:00-5:00 pm in the parking lot of The Plaice Bar & Grill, 981 Garrison Road
The event is for all ages. “Bring your sports teams. Bring your camera. You can bring non-perishable items. COPE will be on-site and can receive cash donations.” Gary says, with the cash donations, COPE can specifically target what they need at the time.
For more event information search in Facebook events for, Frosty the Christmas Horse: A Fun-Filled COPE Fundraiser!
