Charities in southern Alberta say 2020 has definitely been a challenge, but the community continues to step up for those who need it most.
The Christmas Hope campaign is a partnership between local charities, including the food banks who put together toy bundles and food hampers.
“We were aiming to serve 1,800 adults and 4,000 children, we won’t know until we hit the end of distribution exactly how many we’ve served,” said Danielle McIntyre, executive director with Interfaith Food Bank.
Donations and registrations for local families are being accepted until noon on Dec. 23.
“We’ve just been so blessed this year and we are so grateful to the community for stepping up when we knew this was going to be a challenging time,” McIntyre said.
“The creativity and the coming together has been such a wonderful thing this year, we hope it continues into the future.”
Streets Alive Mission is doing its Stuff A Bag campaign this season to offer Lethbridge’s homeless a useful gift this Christmas and they are still accepting donations.
“The gift isn’t just about things, it’s that somebody is thinking of them, that they have enough value that somebody is willing to do something for them, so its so much bigger than the material pieces that we tend to think about,” said Jennifer Lepko, director of fund development with Streets Alive.
AgeCare Columbia partnered with London Drugs to support seniors, who are especially isolated this year. Organizers said the campaign was a huge success, reaching more than 800 local seniors.
“Knowing seniors especially now are very lonely, and a lot of them won’t be seeing their families this Christmas,” said Matejah Kovacs, administrator at AgeCare Columbia.
“I think people are just in the giving spirit — so I’d definitely say because of the pandemic, but I think people have just wanted to help seniors.”
These organizations said they’re overwhelmed by the support the community has shown, knowing its been a tough year for all.
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