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Celine Dion delivers stirring comeback performance at Paris Olympics opening ceremony
Against the rainy Paris night sky, Celine Dion staged the comeback of her career with a powerful performance from the Eiffel Tower to open the Olympic Games.
Donations are pouring in at a beloved Christmas charity after smoke damage from a fire stymied plans for the delivery of wrapped gifts for thousands of children in western Michigan.
Santa Claus Girls of Kent County has been going door-to-door with gifts for more than a century in the Grand Rapids area, delighting families that are struggling during the holidays.
But the all-volunteer group has been scrambling since a fire last week struck a building in Walker where Santa Claus Girls wraps and stores gifts.
"It was like my heart stopped," president Tina Hudson told The Associated Press. "We were on target to service more than 10,000 kids on Dec. 9. We had half of our gits wrapped and bagged and ready to go out the door."
The good news: Flames didn't reach the area used by Santa Claus Girls. The bad news: Smoke filled the space for hours.
"Everything's contaminated -- that was the word that was used by the insurance company," Hudson said Thursday. "You could smell a bonfire smell."
The holiday isn't lost. Santa Claus Girls will instead deliver gift cards for 8,500 children to be used at Meijer, a local big-box store. Hudson wouldn't disclose how much each family will receive but said the cost will be covered by insurance.
"Come heck or high water, these kids are going to have some kind of Christmas from us," she said.
Meanwhile, cash donations "are flooding in" as a result of the fire, Hudson said.
The group already was trying to raise $200,000 for Christmas 2024 and had topped $100,000 by Wednesday, she said.
"There are a lot of giving hearts in the greater Grand Rapids area," said Hudson, her voice cracking.
Some gifts might be OK to use next year. But Santa Claus Girls won't know until each package is inspected in the months ahead. The packages contain pajamas, blankets, books, toys and handmade hats.
And they make a difference.
"My son got some PJs last year that he loved and he hasn't been able to take them off not even to wash. We have to sneak them away to wash them. ... Thank you for all you do!" local mom Salma Odaly said on Facebook.
Against the rainy Paris night sky, Celine Dion staged the comeback of her career with a powerful performance from the Eiffel Tower to open the Olympic Games.
Premier Danielle Smith said Friday afternoon in Hinton while weather conditions are cooler, the Jasper fire is still considered out of control and that Jasper residents can expect to be away from their homes 'for several weeks.'
A three-year-old boy has been found dead a day after he went missing in a park in Mississauga, Ont., Peel police say.
An Irish museum will withdraw a waxwork of singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor just one day after installing it, following a backlash from her family and the public, it told CNN in a statement on Friday.
A Winnipeg senior is getting soaked with a six-figure water bill.
Nearly two weeks after Donald Trump’s near assassination, the FBI confirmed Friday that it was indeed a bullet that struck the former president’s ear, moving to clear up conflicting accounts about what caused the former U.S. president’s injuries after a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally.
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
The lawyer for a former judge whose claims to be Cree were questioned in a CBC investigation says his client is not considering legal action against the broadcaster after the Law Society of British Columbia this week backed her claims of Indigenous heritage.
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
As fire threatened people in Jasper National Park, Colleen Knull sprung into action.
Video posted to social media on Thursday morning appears to show the charred remains of a Jasper, Alta., neighbourhood.
A Saskatchewan-born veteran of the Second World War was recently presented with France's highest national order.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.