Watch above: After months of planning, charities are rolling out their campaigns for the holidays. There are a growing number to choose from but only so many dollars to go around.
SASKATOON – It’s hard to believe but Christmas is only 50 sleeps away.
Local holiday charities, after months of planning, are either rolling out their campaigns or getting set too. There are a growing number of charities but only so much money to go around.
“Somehow it always works,” said TLC@Home founder Shelley James.
Christmas is the season of giving; year in and year out charities around Saskatoon start collecting donations in November for various causes.
“When we first started, we used to pack the boxes in the back of the salon and that doesn’t work any more, not when you’re reaching seven- to eight-hundred children,” said James.
“For us at Secret Santa, we’re actually going to be adding families that we’re going to be assisting this year at Christmas, we’re going to be doing over 700 families this year,” said Nicole Semko, executive director of CJWW Denny Carr’s Secret Santa.
While people continue to support their charities of choice, there are too many to support all, leaving some outside in the cold.
“Think about the animals, I think that children’s charities and health charities are the top fundraisers at this time of year, they get potentially millions of dollars and we get tens of thousands of dollars,” said Saskatoon SPCA Executive Director Patricia Cameron.
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Every year the goals may change, never to help less but more, as organizations continue to see the need to grow.
“We want to make sure we at least reach as many kids as we did last year, that’s kind of our base line and then looking forward to seeing if we can add and that depends a lot on our community,” said James.
“The people of Saskatoon, the companies are extremely generous, they never forget about us, they are very generous in their donations that they provide for us each year and that just keeps us going in our 31st year this year,” said Semko.
The names and causes may be different but the goal of making Christmas’ merry are the same.
“The challenges are definitely there, when you hand the boxes out to the kids that makes it all worth while,” said James.
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