What does a hat mean?


The mom placed a newly donated hat on her two-year-old daughter’s head.

She looked up at me with a huge smile and said, “It fits.”

All of her children were born in a refugee camp. They have just arrived in Canada with 18 other refugees—stepping into snow, ice - safety and opportunity for the very first time.

Thanks to the generosity of so many caring Nova Scotians, and the incredible support of Brunswick Street Mission, they were able to go through an entire cart overflowing with lovingly donated winter clothes.

The lobby of their temporary home, now turned into a Christmas or birthday party of needed gifts.

What struck me most was how they choose items for each other—helping pick out scarves, mittens, and puffy jackets.

After more than ten years in a refugee camp, they are now beginning a new life in Canada, away from war.

They showed me photos of where they came from: flat, scorching desert, not a single tree in sight. Behind towering walls and barbed wire stood tin shacks mangled together. Their home.

The children I met were born there. 

They knew nothing else—until now.

Wearing their new winter gear, they said “thank you” again and again. The girls took my hand, linked arms, and smiled proudly in their beautiful new outfits—so grateful that, when they had so little, people they had never met showed up for them.

To everyone who gave so quickly during this last-minute rush for winter gear:

..........thank you. 🙌

You didn’t just donate clothing—you gave warmth, dignity, and a welcoming first chapter to a new life.

(Created photo is to protect identity and dignity of the newcomers💗)

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