Stratford, Ont.'s Brittlestar launches Christmas Wish Tree to give back

Stratford influencer giving back with new campaign From CTV London's Marek Sutherland – He's known as Brittlestar, and now he's using his social media reach to help those in need.

London, Ont. — You’ve probably seen one of Stewart Reynolds' videos online, or the meme that went viral during the U.S. election season.

His Brittlestar video’s have millions of views over the last seven years and on Friday he plans to release a new mash-up of his popular pro-mask video from earlier this year.

"In classic pop culture horribleness, I’ve done a horrible Christmas version of this song called Santa better wear a bleeping mask," says Reynolds.

He’s using the video release to support a new charity program, The Christmas Wish Tree. People can visit the website and find a Christmas wish list from organizations that submit them.

"It’s come together so quickly. It was literally an idea we had this week. The site went up last night, so we’re just waiting for organizations to send us their wish lists to be added to the site," says Reynolds.

As of Thursday afternoon, a couple of organizations from Stratford had already enrolled and added a wish list, which you can access from the link. From there you can buy something from the list and it will be automatically delivered to someone who needs it for Christmas.

One of the organizations is Emily Murphy Centre, a Second Stage Housing facility in Stratford.

Executive Director Lisa Wilde says the impact of providing gifts for the children is immeasurable.

"Christmastime can be a very stressful time, particularly if you’ve just left an abusive relationship. You can imagine that finances are tight and emotions are high."

And if you have reservations about using Amazon, instead of a local retailer, Reynolds says it isn’t and either/or scenario.

"If you want to shop locally, please do, go shop locally, support local, buy stuff, take it to toy drives, take it directly to centres, do all that kind of stuff. This is just one more way that, ideally after a couple of drinks, you’ll be like 'You know what, I’m going to do some good.'"

Reynolds says he will be will using his platform to promote the cause.

"I’ll just keep pushing it, because I am relentless and shameless. I will push the heck out of this thing until Christmas."