Skip The Dinner is CareImpact’s year-end Christmas campaign, a fundraising non-event. You keep your time, and you give from wherever you are.
Right now, every year-end gift or pledge is DOUBLED by a generous donor, so your giving goes twice as far to help strengthen CareImpact’s work with churches and community partners across Canada.
What if the best gifts this Christmas aren’t wrapped in paper, but in kindness? Johan Heinrichs shares uplifting stories of care in communities across Canada—from the dignity restored by a pop-up toy store in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, to a teen-led Giving Tree Project spreading generosity in Riverview. With a dash of neighbourhood humour in Warman’s Christmas lights ‘ditto’ rivalry and snow angels clearing sidewalks in Central Alberta, this conversation offers heartfelt examples of ordinary people showing extraordinary care. It’s a reminder that hope is alive, celebrated in everyday moments of presence, laughter, and compassion.
“Toy Store Initiative Gives Families Dignity and Fairness During Christmas.” Salvation Army Prairie Division.
2. The Giving Tree in Riverview
This segment is inspired by multiple local “angel tree” and youth-led Christmas giving initiatives reported in New Brunswick community newspapers. No single definitive article is publicly available for citation.
Community coverage of youth-led Christmas giving projects across Riverview and Greater Moncton. (Various local reports, 2023–2024.)
3. Ditto Lights – Warman, Saskatchewan
Original reporting:
“Neighbour Puts Up ‘Ditto’ Sign in Response to Epic Christmas Lights Display.” CTV News Saskatoon.
“Warman Residents Turn Christmas Light Rivalry Into Community Fun.” SaskToday.ca.
4. Snow Angels on Standby – Central Alberta
Original reporting and primary source:
Snow Angels Canada – National volunteer snow-removal initiative.
“Snow Angels Program Encourages Albertans to Help Their Neighbours.” CTV News Edmonton.
“Red Deer and Area Residents Encouraged to Join Snow Angels Program.” Red Deer Advocate.
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with the most vulnerable: careimpact.ca/donate
Mentioned in this episode:
Skip The Dinner-Double Your Impact
Skip The Dinner is CareImpact’s year-end Christmas campaign, a fundraising non-event. You keep your time, and you give from wherever you are.
Right now, every year-end gift or pledge is DOUBLED by a generous donor, so your giving goes twice as far to help strengthen CareImpact’s work with churches and community partners across Canada.
Each donation will be matched before January 1, 2026.
Transcripts
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These headlines point us back to what really matters. Ordinary
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neighbors showing extraordinary care. I'm Johan
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Heinrichs and this is Neighbourly Headlines. Real stories of
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kindness, community and faith in action across Canada.
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Let's take a look at what's been happening close to home.
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Before we jump in, a quick note to our listeners. This is the Neighborly
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HEADLINES Christmas special. We're wrapping up the year with a
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handful of good news stories, the kind that remind us that hope isn't
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canceled even when life is busy, noisy or cold enough to
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freeze your eyebrows. After today, Neighborly will take a short break for the
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holidays and we'll be back in January with a brand new neighborly story
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hosted by Shannon. And trust me, it's a good one. You'll want to tune
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in. So enjoy the season, savor the slower
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pace and maybe catch up with some episodes if you haven't listened to them
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yet. And we will see you again in the new year.
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Sometimes the best parts of Christmas aren't wrapped in ribbon or tucked
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under a tree. They're the small acts of dignity,
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generosity and good humor that remind us why this season still carries
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a shimmer of hope. Today we we're unwrapping a few
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stories from across Canada where neighbors stepped in, showed up
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and made the holidays just a little bit brighter. Let's get right
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into our stories.
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The Toy Store that Trades Shame for Dignity the
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Salvation army in Weyburn, Saskatchewan has reimagined Christmas giving.
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Instead of the old adopt a family model where some families receive more
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than others, they've created a pop up toy store. Parents now
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personally choose toys for their kids from shelves stocked entirely
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with brand new donated items. Volunteers act as personal
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shoppers while families receive wrapping paper to prepare gifts
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with pride. The model brings dignity, equity and a
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touch of joy back into Christmas morning.
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Generosity without dignity can feel like charity,
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but generosity that restores dignity feels like
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love. And that's what this team is offering.
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It mirrors the heart of Christmas giving in a way that honors the
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person. Not the problem. Now for our next story.
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The Giving Tree grows in Riverview. 16 year old
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Sophie noticed the strain families are facing this year and decided
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to do something about it. She launched the Giving Tree Project,
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a digital angel tree system where her families submit wish lists and
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and neighbors select a child to support. With her mom acting as
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chauffeur, Sophie's been collecting gifts, coordinating sponsors
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and building a wave of local generosity that already
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helped 27 kids and is still growing. What began
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as a school project has become a community wide Christmas
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tradition. Sometimes leadership looks like a boardroom.
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Other times it looks like a teenager with WI fi and a heart that
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refuses to sit still. It's the kind of kindness that
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echoes the Christmas story itself. Light arriving in
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unexpected places through unexpected people. Before
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we get into our last story, it's time for Neighborhood Watch, the part of
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the show where community life gets a little messy. Because
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sometimes being a good neighbor means putting up with the quirky and strange.
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And sometimes we are that person.
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The Great Saskatchewan Surrender Ditto Lights
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Win Christmas in Warman, Saskatchewan. One
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neighbor's 15,000 light Christmas display became
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so spectacular that his next door neighbors finally waved the white
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flag of surrender, or rather, the glowing sign of surrender.
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They built a giant illuminated ditto sign, complete with a bright
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arrow pointing straight at his house. Instead of rivalry,
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the whole street erupted in laughter and the moment went
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viral. Together, their two displays became a local
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attraction, a shared celebration instead of a
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competition. This is what happens when comparison steps
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aside and humor takes the lead. A neighborhood becomes
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a community. A joke becomes a joy everyone can share.
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It's the kind of peace on earth moment that doesn't need a sermon,
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just a well lit arrow. And now for our final
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story of the day. Snow Angels on
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Standby. With winter settling in, Central Alberta is
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inviting residents to become snow angels, neighbors who
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shovel not only their own walkways, but someone else's too.
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Through the Snow Angels Canada website, volunteers can register
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to offer help or request it. The idea is simple
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and wildly Canadian and a bit of goodwill. A cleared
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walkway and a reminder that winter is easier when we look out for one
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another. Shoveling is one of Canada's unofficial spiritual
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disciplines. Cold, inconvenient, and strangely
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capable of building community one cleared sidewalk at a time.
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Sometimes grace arrives disguised as someone else's snow shovel.
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You see, Christmas has a way of pulling us back to what matters.
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These stories Parents choosing gifts with dignity, teens
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leading with compassion, neighbors trading rivalry for laughter.
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And everyday snow angels making winter survivable. They
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remind me that the season isn't about perfection. It's about
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presence. It's about showing up in the small, ordinary
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ways that quietly say, you are not alone. And
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maybe that's the invitation this year. Notice the nudge.
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Follow it, and offer the kind of kindness that doesn't need to
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be big to be holy. These headlines
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remind us that good news is still all around us if we take
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the time to notice. Do you have a story of care happening in
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your neighborhood? Share it at NeighbourlyPodcast CA or
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join our Care Impact podcast group on Facebook. Neighbourly is an
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initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity equipping
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churches, agencies and communities with tech and training to
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care better together. Learn more@careimpact ca.
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Hi, I'm Johan Heinrichs and this has been neighborly headlines because
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every story of care deserves to be seen and shared.
