Christmas Hope still seeking help as campaign nears wrap

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on December 18, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Wendy Herbers, bundles gifts for Lethbridge Family Services' Angel Tree Tuesday afternoon at the Angel Tree office.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Three agencies collecting toys for the Christmas Hope Campaign are asking the community for a few more gifts that will help put a smile on the faces of children in need this Christmas.

The Salvation Army Toys for Tots, the Lethbridge Family Services Angel Tree and MyCityCare Shop of Wonders are grateful for all the donations received but they still need some help as the campaign begins to wind down.

Lt. Zach Marshall with the Salvation Army says the organization has raised about 75 per cent of its donations goal and hopes to be able to fully reach it within the week.

“We have a goal of $220,000 to raise, which supports our work at Christmas time for Toys for Tots campaign,” says Marshall. “But (it) also supports the work that we do throughout the year, with some of our community-focused programming and things like that, and to date we’ve raised $160,000.” 

Marshall says there are still families coming in to shop for toys for their kids, so demand for toy donations is high.

Dryden Roesch, marketing manager at Lethbridge Family Services, says the Angel Tree Campaign is helping more children this year than last year, which translates to a need for more donations as well.

“Angel Tree is on the last few 100 gift bundles we’re putting together for the kids in Lethbridge”says Roesch. “We have exceeded 4,300 registered children in total now and we’re about $10,000 short of our fundraising goal.” 

He says the Angel Tree bundles are in need of some specific items that donations will help purchase.

“We would benefit from cash more so than toy items at this time.”

Tanya Lister, volunteer program co-ordinator for MyCityCare, says that even though their side of the Christmas Hope Campaign is wrapping up today, she wants to make sure the community knows how thankful the organization is for all the support it has received this season.

“We’re just so grateful for those in the community, the businesses, the individuals that have showed up these last few days,” says Lister. “We had a definite crunch, a huge need for gifts and ever since Thursday (Dec. 12), all day, people just keep coming in with bags and bags of gifts to help us get through this final crunch,.”

Amanda Jensen, executive director of Volunteer Lethbridge, says its gift wrapping initiative has also been getting a lot of support, especially after making a few changes to its approach.

“We had to shift our perspective,” she says. “Instead of charging for the size of gift that we’re wrapping, we’ve just said ‘it’s free and if you’d like to make a donation to Volunteer Lethbridge, you’re more than welcome to do so.’ And we have been far more successful that way.” 

Jensen says shoppers tend to be more generous when things are presented as free and the choice to make a contribution is left up to them.

 Volunteer Lethbridge will continue to wrap presents at Canadian Tire South until Dec. 23 at 6 p.m.