Christmas Cheer sets hamper limit for 2023

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This article was published 02/11/2023 (1064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After delivering a record number of hampers to families last year, Brandon and Westman Christmas Cheer launched its 2023 campaign on Wednesday with a firm limit.

Putting together almost 1,200 hampers last year filled the charity’s space in the basement of the Library/Arts building to capacity and put a strain on volunteers, so its board of directors has decided to cap this year’s efforts at 1,100 hampers.

Because demand will likely exceed that amount, chairperson Myrna Lane and treasurer Bob Walberg are hoping the community will step up and volunteer to “adopt” families in need and put together hampers for them.

“We had a lot of families that were larger,” Lane said. “A larger family takes more boxes and boxes have to be stored. The issue is we just ran out of space.”

Last year, 191 families were adopted and provided hampers by individuals or organizations in the community. Lane said she hopes that number could be bumped up to 300 or 400 this year.

In the past, some groups would adopt up to 30 families. But according to Walberg, a lot of organizations found it easier to donate cash after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those donations aren’t unwelcome, but it puts the onus on volunteers to buy more food and manage the charity’s space.

Lane and Walberg said that Brandon showed how it could pull together to assist the charity last year when a call for hamper delivery drivers was met by a long line of vehicles along Rosser Avenue and Seventh Street volunteering their services.

Speaking about the importance of the campaign, Walberg recalled an interaction he had with a mother and her children while collecting donations at Canadian Tire last year.

The woman was about to leave the store when she stopped, turned around and put a $5 bill in the donation jar.

“She says, ‘I don’t need Christmas Cheer anymore, but I’m sure someone else does,’” Walberg said. “We don’t hear back from (recipients) often, but that one really hit me … She needed a ray of hope and now she’s paying it forward.”

While the campaign officially kicked off on Wednesday and will now hold office hours, that doesn’t mean Christmas Cheer has been idle to this point.

Shoppers keep an eye out for good prices on non-perishable food and toys throughout the years and organizations that refer families to Christmas Cheer for hampers have already been taking in applications.

But with the holiday season approaching, efforts are now kicking into high gear.

Making things a little bit smoother this time around is a newly redesigned website that makes it easier for residents to see what resources Christmas Cheer needs, what events are upcoming and to donate money to the cause.

A list of needed donations hosted on brandonwestmanchristmascheer.ca states that new unwrapped toys, books, board games, craft kits, mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, socks and non-perishable food items that haven’t reached their expiration date are all needed right now.

Though the hampers provide Christmas dinner, they also provide other food staples like cereal, soup, pasta and cookies. Last year, Lane said, the group worked with a nutritionist to make sure they were providing families with food needed for a balanced diet.

Donors can still drop off cash or cheques in person, but the website helps people find out how to donate money electronically by e-transfer, through Paypal, e-wallets and online charity portal CanadaHelps.

The office also has a terminal now, which means it can collect donations made by debit or credit card.

The new website also lists where donations can be mailed to, which includes the Brandon Sun’s office at The Town Centre mall.

Walberg said a new system for sending out tax receipts for donations electronically will speed up the process considerably by not having to have them mailed out.

From Nov. 20-26, Christmas Cheer will be setting up a table at Canadian Tire to collect donations.

The annual “Fill the Bus” event will ask residents to bring enough donations to fill a Brandon Transit bus on two occasions, on Nov. 25 at Sobeys West and at the Corral Centre Safeway on Dec. 2.

The Brandon Wheat Kings’ annual teddy bear toss game is on Saturday, Dec. 16. While teddy bears are in the name of the event, toques, gloves and warm socks are valued just as much. Organizers ask that you protect those donations by placing them in plastic bags.

The Christmas Cheer office at 710 Rosser Ave. is now open from Monday to Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. Operating hours will expand from Nov. 27 through Dec. 14, with the office open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily with a closure for lunch each day from noon to 1 p.m.

The office will then close for the season on Dec. 15 at noon.

To keep an eye on upcoming announcements and events held by Christmas Cheer, locals can either visit the website or the campaign’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» X: @ColinSlark