Families took their holiday memory-making to the next level, posing for professional photos at the Crawford Garden Centre. Arooj Fatima, also known as "Clicks by Arooj", was behind the camera at the event organized by Halton Food for Thought. People visited on Sunday, November 28 hoping for postcard-ready pictures. Fatima and volunteers from Crawfords and Halton Food for Thought had scenic sets in surplus. Namely: a poinsettia wall, a sleigh, and a Christmas tree decked out with decorations.
"It has 3200 lights on it, all white lights, it's stunning," said Kevin Matchett, who works with Halton Food for Thought, "Some put the young kids in the sleigh. Some families stood in front of the poinsettia wall. But universally, everyone wants to get a photo with this tree."
Matchett is Halton Food for Thought's Director of Philanthropy and Communications. He gave Acton UP good news for everyone who didn't make it to the photo event.
"Crawfords has generously offered to leave it up for the month of December, so if you want to come by and take your own photos with your iPhone or something, please do. Crawfords has posted a QR code there if you want to donate," Matchett said.
Halton Food for Thought is a registered Charity Organization that partners with schools to provide more than 90,000 Halton students access to healthy food at school.
"Pre-packaged healthy snacks like granola bars, cereal, and applesauce," Matchett explained, "It's universal access. It's for any student who needs a snack during the day to keep their fuel up and perform better."
Acton Up asked the director how Halton Food for Thought's ability to get food into classrooms has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Volunteering is down because of COVID protocols, but teachers have really stepped up to the responsibility of ordering the food, monitoring inventory, and delivering it to classrooms on a weekly basis. We're a lot farther ahead than we were 6 to 8 months ago -- not back to where we used to be, but we're getting closer"
Donations to the Halton Food for Thought website go towards supporting student nutrition programs that meet guidelines set by Ontario's Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. If you'd like to support that mission in the most fun way possible, Matchett suggests swinging by Crawford's Garden Centre to snap a couple photos before the year ends.
"This particular initiative was new to all of us, but we were thrilled to see families take part. It actually started to snow that morning as well. There was a real holiday feel to it."
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