A group of volunteers in Ottawa spent Christmas Eve helping make a girl's Christmas wish come true.

Maika Lefebvre has been staying at Roger Neilson House, a palliative hospice centre for children. The five-year-old has a rare form of brain cancer and is the only child left at the facility over the holiday season.

The one thing she wanted to do over the holidays was build a snowman, but Ottawa's recent weather hasn't brought an abundance of snow.

So the manager of a local Home Hardware jumped at the chance to make the little girl's dream come true.

We're trying to make the best lives for our children, no matter how short their lives are. - Helen Yoxon, manager at Roger Neilson House

"The warmth, the feeling you get when you see the look on the kids' faces is priceless. That's what Christmas is all about to me," said Dave Thompson.

Thompson also trucked in snow to the hospice when the region experienced a green Christmas three years ago.

"To be able to do something for somebody else, another family that needs it, is more than enough of a Christmas gift for me."

Maika Lefebvre suffers from a rare form of brain cancer. A team of volunteers helped her build a snowman on Christmas Eve. (CBC)

The team of volunteers spent the morning going around to local arenas, collecting snow and piling it in front of the facility.

They then built Maika a plump snowman, complete with a top hat.

"We're all about memory-making for the children that come here." said Helen Yoxon, the manager of Roger Neilson House, located on the grounds of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

The manager of a local Home Hardware gets teary-eyed as he talks about leading a team of volunteers to build a snowman for a dying five-year-old girl. 0:43

"We're trying to make the best lives for our children, no matter how short their lives are."

Four-year-old Norah Coleman and her two siblings stopped by with their father to help out.

"I was hoping to make [Maika] happy," she said.

David Thompson helps put the finishing touches on the snowman that he and a team of volunteers helped build for Maika. The team had to haul in snow from arenas around the city. (Amanda Pfeffer/CBC)

Bittersweet day

The snowman may have put a smile on Maika's face, but the day was bittersweet for many of those around her.

The only other child staying at the hospice died this weekend.

"It's an amazing thing to watch their strength, because we have our health. We have everything we need, and they don't. And to watch them be so strong for their daughter got me in the feels," said Thompson.

He hoped the snow delivery would encourage others to help those in need.

"Giving back to the community is a great thing. If you're able and willing to do it, then you should do so."