Northwest Calgary tradition brings joy to 10-year-old undergoing chemotherapy
CBC
After a painful year for Amanda Moppett-Beatch and her family, neighbours in northwest Calgary are banding together to bring them some December joy.
Residents of Varsity are using a holiday window decorating tradition to share words of encouragement with Amanda's ten-year-old son Easton, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in June.
The words "EASTON B STRONG" are painted, collaged, and written on windows in the neighbourhood.
"It's been a real hard journey so far, but you know, he's the smiliest of all of us and he's so strong every day," said Amanda Moppett-Beatch, adding the family spends a lot of time at home to protect Easton from getting sick.
"For him to just now see each window and realize people are thinking of him and supporting him, it's just been a wonderful surprise that's been so uplifting in an otherwise pretty hard month."
Since 2020, some residents of Varsity have created a living window advent calendar to build community.
Each night in December leading up to Christmas, a different house unveils a cheerful holiday window display. People from the community are invited to walk by to see the designs.
When organizer Verena Kuret learned the Beatch family, who've participated every year, were facing dark times, she decided to arrange something special.
"I sent [an e-mail] out to the neighbourhood and within hours my inbox was just kind of filling up, boom, boom, boom, boom with all of these e-mails from people saying, 'we're in.'"
"Since Dec. 1st, we've been seeing window after window with a ... EASTON B STRONG message."
Kuret said the community's response made her emotional, and she's grateful to live in a place that rallies together.
Moppett-Beatch kept the window campaign a secret from Easton until they visited the first house.
"All of a sudden he's like, 'does that say EASTON B STRONG?' And then you know I'm crying like, 'yes it does buddy, this is for you … so we gotta keep our strength up. We gotta make sure we're strong enough to come out to go out and find the next one.'"
The family has since visited a new window display nearly every night. Moppett-Beatch says it gives Easton something to look forward to.
James Benesh was so interested in researching an online hockey draft, he ended up with one of the largest-known collections of hockey books and eventually being called a hockey historian.
A recent market and fundraiser showcasing Palestinian-owned businesses in Hamilton, including new start-ups by people from Gaza who now call the city home, was met with “incredible” support, organizers say.
This time next year, Joellah Fletcher plans to be prepping or taking her final exams to become a certified Red Seal carpenter.
East of the small village of Coutts, Alta., a stone’s throw from the border with the United States, Cindy Bosch’s day-to-day life looks much like it did a year ago.
For years, police have been on the front lines of mental health crisis calls in Toronto, but the city's police chief believes it's now time to rethink that approach.
One of Prince Edward Island’s last surviving Second World War veterans has died.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has too much regulation and not enough investments in clean energy and technology — and he's making his most direct repudiation yet of his predecessor's environmental policies.
WARNING: This story contains distressing content, including racist, violent and antisemitic language.
A national Jewish advocacy organization is taking legal action against Manitoba's medical regulator over a complaint it made last year alleging a prominent doctor made antisemitic comments on social media.
A cat that went missing in a remote area of northeastern B.C. is finally back home with its family in Oklahoma, five months later.
It wasn’t clear trolleys would be a hit in Medicine Hat, but the Sunshine Trolley has wound its way into Hatters’ hearts.
More than 200 volunteers and politicians gathered in Etobicoke Saturday for the Daily Bread Food Bank’s holiday sort.
The rising cost-of-living has already made supporting a family difficult this year. But, the holidays can make staying on budget that much harder.