Christmas can be a difficult time for single moms and Kaleo Collective is hoping to ease some of that holiday stress by giving children the opportunity to give back to their moms.
On Dec. 12, the collective is hosting Little Santas. The event allows the children of single moms to come and pick a Christmas gift for their mom, free of charge.
“We believe it is so important that a child gets to experience that really powerful act of giving a gift, because it helps them to grow into kind and compassionate and empathetic adults,” said Layna Haley, founder and president of Kaleo Collective.
Children who are registered for the event will be able to go into the Little Santas Shop and pick out a gift for their mom, which will then be wrapped by a volunteer.
“We also have woven in a couple of other aspects that we also think are really important. We love for moms and children to get the opportunity to do an activity together and just to spend some really good quality time bonding,” said Haley.
On top of the gift, families will be sent home with a gingerbread house-making kit and a meal donated by Socrates in St. Albert.
“They'll get a “take and bake” meal so they can really just have a fun evening together, making the gingerbread house, and then having dinner together and that just takes a lot of that pressure off,” she said.
The event is being held in an empty commercial space in St. Albert. As per COVID restrictions, only one family will be allowed in the Little Santas Shop at a time.
“We can have one cohort in the shop at a time, no touching – can’t touch anything, everybody will be masked, there will be virtually no other people ... in the space that we’ll be occupying,” explained Haley.
Single moms can sign up for the event on the Kaleo Collective website. The event is almost full but there are still a few spots remaining.
There is also an opportunity for people to adopt a Little Santa. Donations for the event can be made on the website. Haley said they will take any amount, but it costs about $50 to cover the cost of meals, gifts and gingerbread houses.
Kaleo Collective is an organization that offers support to single moms and their children through courses that teach practical skills and personal development. They also host a weekly single mom support group through Zoom. Haley said the group offers a place for moms to be seen and heard and to help reduce the isolation and loneliness that comes from parenting alone.
“We help single moms to come together. We build a really beautiful, supportive community – every single mom in our community comes from a different set of circumstances and a different story," said Haley.
"But they all have the one thing in common, and that is being a single mom. And if you've never been a single mom, nobody can really, truly appreciate what being a single mom is all about."
