Our Christmas windows this year were inspired by current events and by our December charity. We have had lots of conversations over the past year with clients, friends, and family, many of whom are parents, about things that are happening in the world. Many times during the course of these conversations, parents have talked about the ways in which they are discussing current events with and explaining world issues to their children. With these conversations top of mind, the 'Build Love Not Walls' window came into being. The idea was to present our message with very big (but not huge) kid's alphabet building blocks. We began by cutting wood and assembling the nine plywood blocks. Next we made stencils for the letters and cut, painted and attached them to the blocks. The house was taken over as a window workshop for a few days. When installing the blocks in the windows we wanted to literally build 'love' and tumble 'walls'. This afternoon at 3 when the elementary school next to the shop let out, it was great to see so many kids looking at the windows with their parents. I heard a couple of kids yelling "Build love!"
This year, our December charity is UNHCR Canada. The Canadian UN Refugee Agency helps refugees and other displaced people "survive, recover and rebuild better futures".
https://give.unhcr.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1920&ea.campaign.id=57651&en_txn10=16-SEM_Iraq&gclid=CKrRn_K84tACFQyNaQodHrYJ6Q&gclsrc=aw.ds
86 cents of every dollar donated to UNHCR goes directly to uprooted families. As of this month, the monthly federal stipend for the first wave of Syrian refugees comes to an end as they enter their second year in Canada. If you would like to donate to the UNHCR, please click on the link above. It's easy. During the month of December we will be donating 10 percent of the profits from each sale to UNHCR.
