Kyra Gregory-Cole has a Christmas wish, but it isn't what would normally be on a nine-year-old's list for Santa.
The Grade 4 Irvine elementary school student wants to help those in dire need of assistance and she's hoping the inspiration spreads to others.
"We get presents under the tree but those people, they don't get presents and I wanted to help them," Kyra told The Tri-City News. "It's so nice to give to people, it's such a nice feeling."
So for the fourth year in a row Gregory-Cole, who could easily pass for one of Santa's little elves, will stand with her mother and a handful of other helpers at the corner of Main and Hastings streets in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and distribute gloves, hats, scarves, socks, toiletries and other goodies to the region's most vulnerable people.
Amber Gregory said her daughter often wanted to join her in volunteering but, because it wasn't always possible, she wanted to come up with something she could do on her own.
"Whenever we were out and about, she always wanted to help the homeless people," Gregory said. "She'd buy them dinner or, if we were at the grocery store, she would buy them a bag of food. She just wanted to help."
The first year of Kyra's Christmas Wish, they raised about $500 along with the donations of mitts, socks and other items. Word has spread, however, and donations have reached $1,600 (Gregory uses the money to purchase additional items in bulk), with even more cold-weather donations coming in.
Gregory said far from complaining about standing out in the cold all day, her daughter looks forward to the annual event starting in early November and says the experience of watching a little girl talk to someone who's lost hope — "looking them in the eye as a real human being with a real conversation and letting them know they matter" — is simply magic.
"Kyra's motto is that if everyone has the passion to help, this world would be even more magical."
• To contribute to Kyra's Christmas Wish, visit her fundraising page at www.gofundme.com/kyraschristmaswish. She'll be distributing items on the afternoon of Dec. 20.
