The Sapin du Petit Bonheur organizing committee has decided to retire after 16 years, due to a lack of new talent. The event was launched in 2007 by students in the management course at CÉGEP de Valleyfield, before becoming a non-profit organization in 2011. 

For the past three years, the organizers have been looking for a new generation of people with the time, dynamism and skills to take charge of this annual adventure and ensure its continuity.  Unfortunately, the search was unsuccessful.

For 16 years, the Sapin du Petit Bonheur has provided thousands of gifts, hundreds of comic books, dictionaries, hundreds of backpacks with or without school supplies and, for some schools near Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, hundreds of pairs of espadrilles.

Last year alone, the activity enabled the following: 

- 783 Christmas gifts donated; 

- 191 backpacks with school supplies and 100 backpacks without school supplies. These were distributed last May.

- At present, thanks to Vision Jeunesse du Suroit, with a limited but very generous budget, and the complicity of Barbottine + boutique de chaussures, it is assured that this cooperation will distribute to 276 students a pair of espadrilles or winter boots fitted to their feet.

Thanks before the adventure ends

In a press release, the instigator of the activity, Jean-Luc Turcotte, wishes to thank all the friends of the Sapin du Petit Bonheur and all those who have: 

- Bought a gift or donated a small $20; 

- Donated time to wrap gifts, write names on labels, check and sort gifts into the right boxes for each school; 

- Sponsored the Sapin du Petit Bonheur financially and in kind; 

- Been the essential source of the organization's activities, namely the principals and especially their school secretaries. 

"For all of you, there will always be an opportunity to continue giving to the next if you wish. Take a good look around your street or related street, or in your neighborhood if you have to, to see if there isn't a single-parent family or a family in need. Talk to the mother to see if you can offer a gift to her child or children. On the evening of December 24th, at around 10pm, you tie the presents to a tree in front of the house or a banister on the staircase. You can't imagine the pleasure this gives the children, but you might even ask yourself who you're giving more pleasure to - yourself or them!" we conclude by way of inspiration.