The 91Ô­´´ Christmas Bureau was the big winner out of the B&B Contracting Group staff Christmas party recently.

The 91Ô­´´ and Surrey Christmas bureaus each received $10,000 donations from the staff and from the company that's been around since 1948. As of Dec. 3, it is the largest single corporate donation the 91Ô­´´ charity received this year.

"Since 2021, our team has donated to the local Christmas bureaus at our Christmas party," said operations manager Peter Mihalech. "We encourage donations in various ways – this year it was a 50/50 draw and a call for donations. Our team was incredibly generous and donated $10,000, allowing for donations of $5000 per bureau. Our CFO, Fraser Bruce, was inspired by our team members' generosity and decided that B&B would match that, resulting in a $10,000 donation for each bureau. Unlike most donations that B&B makes, this one comes directly from our employees. They have opened their wallets and have given to this worthy cause."

The company started in Surrey 75 years ago and now has approximately 750 employees. The company has grown substantially over the past 10 years, and is now made up of multiple companies, including B&B Contracting, A&A Testing, WestCan Rail, and Saskay Ready-Mix.

When the holiday season began, it was time for a party.

"When our employees are donating at the door of the Christmas party, we often hear, 'It's for the kids', and that, I think, is a huge motivator for our team," he said. "We all have felt the squeeze of the past few years with inflation running rampant and interest rates soaring. And I think that we all know, deep down, that the children in our community have very little control over their circumstances. The Christmas bureau allows families that extra helping hand and provides a Christmas morning to thousands of children in our community."

B&B leaves it up to the bureau how to best spend the funds, whether that is on toys and gifts to fill gaps in donations, or on the gift cards that allow families to pick out some special foods for a holiday meal.

Mihalech said the company believes in supporting the communities that support it.

"We've found ourselves working steadily within the 91Ô­´´ Township and City this past year. We have been working on the Willowbrook Connector for months, upgrading this crucial infrastructure to allow for easier commutes and travelling between neighbourhoods," he explained. "We're also excited to be working in the downtown core of 91Ô­´´ this fall and winter. This project, which involves infrastructure upgrades on the one-way in 91Ô­´´, is one that we want to handle with consideration of the downtown business community. We have partnered with the Downtown 91Ô­´´ Business Association to sponsor monthly giveaways of Downtown Dollars, helping to showcase the incredible businesses that are within the downtown district. (Giveaways will be on Instagram.) We love 91Ô­´´, and we're very proud to be able to support this incredible community."

Staff and the company don't just help out at one time of the year. Their efforts help groups ranging from health care to community organizations.

"We also sponsor numerous sports teams," Mihalech said. "But independent of our corporate sponsorships, our employees are truly an incredible group of people. Our crews have arranged their own fundraisers over the years, including raising funds for a fellow colleague who lost everything in a total loss fire, supporting each other in Movember efforts, as well as just recently, one of our crews used their lunch break to go shopping for toys for the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau."

Donations to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau are distributed the bureaus around the region, including 91Ô­´´'s which also relies on support from local residents, service clubs, businesses, and others. 91Ô­´´'s bureau is entirely volunteer run.

The 91Ô­´´ Christmas Bureau provides Christmas gifts for local children from birth to age 18 in families that are struggling financially. Parents get to pick out age-appropriate toys and gifts for their children. Through the bureau, the families also receive books from the 91Ô­´´ Literacy Network. There are also sponsorships of families that include gifts and a supply of food to help them get through the holidays. To find out about the ways to support the 91Ô­´´ Christmas Bureau, go to langleychristmasbureau.com.

"I think that we're all aware of how delicate the balance is these days – it can be a matter of a few missed paycheques and suddenly, your life can change dramatically. Our team is especially motivated by helping children," Mihalech said. "I think it's because many of us are parents, and we can imagine the challenge it would be to face the holidays without the resources that so many of us take for granted."