NIPAWIN 鈥� If you have seen businesses in ugly sweaters over the holidays, it鈥檚 not by chance.
The Nipawin and District Chamber of Commerce held their first annual Ugly Sweater Day on Dec. 18.
For this event, participating businesses wore their favorite ugly sweater and each participant donated a non-perishable food item to the Salvation Army Food Bank in Nipawin.
鈥淚 was lying in bed one night, truthfully sleeping, when I woke up and I thought, 鈥榓n ugly sweater food bank,鈥� said Lisa Suchlandt, executive director with the Nipawin Chamber of Commerce.聽 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 Christmas time and the food bank does their gift baskets for all this families, right? They could always use more to fill their shelves.鈥�
She intends to have the event happen again next year.
鈥淚 think it was well received and we hope next year it will be bigger and better,鈥� Suchlandt said. 鈥淚t is fun, it鈥檚 Christmas time, everyone is in a great mood. It just brings a bit more festivity to the community.鈥澛犅犅犅�
Handi-Works was one of the participating businesses, though their sweaters were anything but ugly. Handi-works is a non-profit who works with adults who have intellectual disabilities.
聽鈥淲hen we got the email we just thought it could be a really fun thing and everyone could get into it,鈥� said April Demmans, bookkeeper at Handi-Works. 鈥淏ecause we were donating food it was even better.鈥�
Most of the sweaters worn by Handi-Works staff were handmade or decorated.
鈥淚t actually kind of turned into a project for us because some of the group homes, they all made their own sweaters as a fun project,鈥� Demmans said. 鈥淪o it turned into a really cool thing.鈥�
Bonnie Livermore, office clerk at Handi-Works, was in for a shock when she arrived in the office.
聽鈥淲hen I got here this morning everyone was so excited and they were like, 鈥榦h, let me see your sweater, let me see your sweater.鈥� They were just very excited to show off their sweaters and their creations.鈥�
Livermore believes it even brought more 鈥淐hristmas spirit鈥� out for the participants.
鈥淓ven people who didn鈥檛 want to participate off the bat, everyone had sweaters on today and everyone was smiling and it was just been a really good team building exercise even.鈥澛�
The Nipawin and District Chamber of Commerce posted all photos of businesses in their ugly sweaters to their Facebook page.
Demmans would like to encourage the community year to join it next year.
鈥淧articipate, it鈥檚 fun. We鈥檙e going to make it an annual event.鈥�
