Santas brought joy to the world to many at Christmas
Three days before Christmas, not just one but a dozen Santas roamed downtown Vancouver handing out free Stein posters. Countless helpers in bright red Joy to the World T-shirts refilled the Santa's sacks when they were empty. The little teams were everywhere!
In seven frantic hours, more than 18,000 rolled up Stein Valley Joy to the World posters-each one tied with a red ribbon and sporting a label which said "Caution frameable print"-were given to delighted office workers and Christmas shoppers in downtown Vancouver.
In Victoria, Lytton, Lillooet and other B.C. communities, volunteers were also giving away the poster. What better way to celebrate the spirit of Christmas than to bring the beauty of a place with more than five million naturally grown Christmas trees-the Stein Valley wilderness-to the people of B.C.
Within two weeks the entire project went from concept to reality. The concept and the money to carry out this Santa escapade came from a member of Western Canada Wilderness Committee. He is a person of modest means who loves the Stein so much that he was willing to go into debt to do something that would be effective in the fight to save this valley.
Once the posters were printed there was the seemingly impossible tas of getting the seven metre-high pile of posters rolled amd ribboned.
Once the posters were printed there was the seemingly impossible task of getting the seven metre-high pile of posters rolled and ribboned. More than 30 of Santa's helpers lent a hand at a gigantic poster rolling party that went on for three days and nights. After hundreds of hours of volunteer work by Stein wilderness believers, the job was done-just hours before Santa's appointed hour.
Even though we fell far short of reaching every household in British Columbia, the entire Joy to the World poster project brightened up Christmas for a lot of people. The reaction was overwhelming, with only one exception (one person who said that the forest in the poster looked like a wheat filed ready to be harvested. We said get a pair of glasses!) Everyone else was delighted.
One thing for sure. All the Santas claimed that Rudolf and the other deer are for a roadless Stein!
