The St. Vincent de Paul Society will once again be providing Christmas hampers to those families with children in need.
Every year, the society provides about 200 families a Christmas hamper that allows them to get their holiday dinner foods along with a bit extra to get through the holidays without the stress of being short through the season. Age-appropriate gifts are provided for the whole family, including toys for the children, so that everyone has a gift under the tree.
To access the Christmas hamper program, applicants must provide a Care Card number for all family members.
“Telus has once again been kind enough to provide telephones and the phone numbers for the incoming calls,” Bernie Goold, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Society.
As in the recent past, the application intake is done by calling in. This year the phone numbers are 250-640-4673 or 250-640-3521 and calls will be taken between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20, Wednesday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov. 24, Tuesday, Nov. 28, Wednesday, Nov. 29 and Thursday, Nov. 30.
Delivery date is Sunday, Dec. 17, from 11 a.m. to 1:20 p.m.
“We have a very small staff, there are four people at the drop-in centre on pay roll, and they are who prepare meals, pack meals and supervise volunteers,” Goold said. “It’s just too much for them so what we’ve done for the last two years is ask volunteers to be on the phones taking applications.”
Because of supply chain issues in the past, St. Vincent’s has not been providing food in the Christmas hampers but rather vouchers that have purchase restrictions. A family with up to four members is considered a small family that gets a $175 voucher, four to eight people is a large family that gets a $250 voucher and then eight and up is an extra-large family that gets a $300 voucher.
“The food we get at Christmas donated from the wonderful community food drives provides relief over Christmas and into the new year,” Goold said. “Hunger does not stop after the holidays. Those donations serve countless families into May and June. The need goes on and on. Like I always say, poverty is 365 days a year, not two weeks over Christmas.”
During the pandemic when St. Vincent’s started to give out vouchers, Goold said she wasn’t sure how the change would be received.
“I was very apprehensive about it when we started it two years ago but the feedback from the families has been incredible,” Goold said. “They can pick what they want.”
The vouchers are delivered to each family with toys and gifts for family members and a signature of the recipient is provided on the voucher at that time of receipt and then again at the store when it is redeemed, Goold said.
The society’s main revenue stream comes from their Thrift Store at 1645 Third Avenue.
“It used to be that anybody could have a full outfit of clothes every two weeks, now the demand is so great from those living on the street we may be giving an outfit of clothes every four or five days,” Goold said. “An absolute luxury is a pair of long johns.”
The society also provides household items to those just starting out in their new dwelling. Last year, they provided $56,000 in vouchers donated to those in need.
“If a person has a rent receipt and they’re moving into their new apartment we will help them as much as we can with bedding, dishes, pots and pans - anything that we have in our store that will be of use to them,” Goold said. “Our thrift store is the gold mine that pays for the overhead here, including the salary of the one paid staff member at the store.”
For more information about St. Vincent de Paul Society in Prince George, visit ssvdppg.com/
