Giving back began for Brooklyn Bartlett when her mother revealed it’s what Christmas is really about. Her mother and The Sweet Newfie Kitchen owner, Jaime Ryan, started putting together food baskets for families in need in the Mount Pearl area to help them enjoy a Christmas free from financial stress.
Their first year counted five families. Now, six years later, the project is helping hundreds of families each year. And Bartlett, who was 12 when she first asked Ryan if they could help others enjoy their Christmas, is now 18 and heading this year’s project herself.
It’s a big job, but one she’s ready for because helping people is what she now lives for at Christmas. “When I was a kid, it was a typical Christmas with presents, but then we started doing this and it’s really what made Christmas special for us,” says Bartlett.
How it works
The initiative is known as The Sweet Newfie Kitchen Christmas Project and involves sending food hampers and cooked meals to families who need a little help funding their holiday celebrations.
The dinners are typically delivered to families who are not able to cook for themselves and the hampers to those who can or are having larger family celebrations. The project has delivered help to around 500 families — 300 family dinners and 200 hampers.
Bartlett says the project began as a way to hand out Christmas dinners and has escalated to ensuring presents or gift cards are available to those who’d otherwise be without gifts on Christmas morning. “Quite a lot of people are aware of what we do now,” she says.
The community of Mount Pearl is rallying around the project as news of it reaches more and more people. With social media posts sharing project updates having reached 40,000 viewers last year, Bartlett says they plan to help more families than ever. She also feels people are becoming involved because most, including her own family, have experienced some level of hardship themselves. “My family has had times that we’ve struggled, so I get it. That’s a big reason why we give back to those struggling now and help them get back on their feet,” she says.
Taking the reins
Running the project is a big job for Bartlett as she heads into her first year as a Memorial University of Newfoundland student. It’s also a big transition, since Ryan has spearheaded the project since it started. However, the two will work on it together, as Ryan remains involved as an adviser for Bartlett, who will dedicate her Christmas break to organizing the project.
Ryan says before the project, she had lost touch with what Christmas was really about, due to her children’s difficult autism diagnoses. “I didn’t know how to teach or show my daughter the true meaning of Christmas,” says Ryan, adding that it all changed when it was Bartlett and her project idea that reminded her. “Needless to say, I am very proud of her.”
The moment that cemented it all for Bartlett was among the project’s earliest deliveries that brought her and Ryan to the home of a family who had very little — so little that the sight of an orange sitting atop the Christmas hamper sent a two-year-old child into a fit of excitement. “It just hit us right there — that is why we do this. It’s to make a difference, even a small one, for people. Because when you give back to others, you’re giving them hope, too,” says Bartlett.
This content originally appeared in YULETIDE PREPARATIONS, a SaltWire custom publishing title.
