The crunch is on for Winnipeg charities as they swing into the holiday season with a shortage of volunteers.
At the Christmas Cheer Board warehouse, volunteers are wrapping gifts and sending out thousands of holiday hampers.
Executive director of the charity, Shawna Bell, said the high cost of living means massive demand this year.
“When it comes to the holiday season, it becomes even more stressful for so many families making very difficult decisions. If they have to decide on whether they’re paying a bill, or they’re getting food put on the table for them and their children. That’s an impossible decision.”
Bell said the board set a record for first-day hamper pickups last Tuesday, with 1100 being claimed.
She believes they’re on track to hand out 19,000 hampers over the whole season.
“So far, we’ve had a hamper for every single person that’s applied, and we’re still keeping applications open until the 23rd,” she said. “We have about 15,000 hampers that have been applied for so far, so we can expect another few thousand coming in.”
However, in order to get the hampers out to everyone who needs one, the Christmas Cheer Board needs a bump in volunteers.
“We’ve got roughly 6000 deliveries that have to go out,” Bell said. “We’re hoping that folks in the area, even beyond, will jump in their cars this week and help us get those hampers out to families in need.”
The Salvation Army has also issued an appeal for volunteers for their Kettle fundraiser.
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Captain Ian Scott says many of their regular volunteers haven’t returned this year.
“Remnants of the pandemic, perhaps. People aren’t quite back into the run of things. A large number of our volunteers have gotten older and simply just aren’t available anymore, and we haven’t yet recruited that new volunteer base of the younger folks that want to come and start to get involved.”
As of late last week, the organization said its kettle campaign had only reached 22 per cent of its $300,000 goal.
Like the Christmas Cheer Board, the demand for help is high.
“We’re seeing a significantly higher number of families coming in,” Scott said. He echoes Bell’s sentiment that the issue lays in the cost of living.
“Rents go up, food prices go up, cost of services are going up. People are just struggling to be able to find the extra pieces that they want in terms of being able to work through the year and survive through the year, and of course, Christmas for their children.”
Scott hopes people will come out to take part in the spirit of the season and volunteer, because their help can make a difference for those in need and “allow the families to come in, and just to see their eyes light up. They’ve been given that moment of hope that they engage with their children or perhaps their families.
“It’s just a heartwarming feeling and it allows everyone to share in the goodwill of what’s going on.”
He said if people signed up to take a couple of two-hour shifts, that would be the Christmas miracle needed by not just the organization, but the community.
Bell said the Christmas Cheer Board needs “as many people as are available to come out and spend an hour delivering for us.” She said a few hundred volunteers over the next week would be great. “Folks are certainly more than welcome to come to us. we’re open until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and then 4 p.m. on weekends.
“Certainly, if anybody does have some extra time on their hands and they’d like to spend it with us, we’d be very happy to see them.”
With just two weeks to go until the big day, Scott and Bell are hopeful Winnipeggers will answer the call to help.
— with files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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