CBC Canada, CTV News
A group of Canadian kids are spreading a bit of Christmas spirit in Halifax, Nova Scotia, by covering warm clothes around light poles(灯杆) for the city's homeless people to pick up and use. It was such an unusual sight that locals stopped to take pictures to share on social media(媒体).
Every year, Tara AtkinsSmith collects warm clothes from her community in order to help the less lucky. This year, since the family was travelling to Halifax with their daughter Jayda and seven of her friends to celebrate her 8th birthday, Tara thought it was the perfect time to teach the children a valuable life lesson.
The kids spent time handing out coats to the homeless and tied the rest around light poles for others to pick up. Each of the clothes had a tag that read, "I am not lost. If you are caught in the cold, please take me to keep warm." According to Tara, the experience helped the children better understand the difficult situation of homeless people, who have to brave the cold winter on the streets. "When we got back in the car after an hour on the streets, they were all freezing cold and crying for the heater(火炉) to be on because they were cold, " she said.
By next morning, all the jackets, gloves, and scarves on the poles were gone. Photos of the inspiring project have been shared about 8, 000 times on Facebook, and have got over 10, 000 likes. Tara, who did something similar in Toronto in December last year, says she's already planning next year's coat drive. She hopes that the meaningful thing can spread around the world, and she also wants to add $5 fast food gift card so that the homeless people can also enjoy a hot meal." We've got help from others when we were in need, and we knew how great it made us feel, " said Zackary Atkins, Tara's husband.