Christmas Cheer exceeds target for donations

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This article was published 21/12/2024 (271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After initial concerns about a donation shortfall, the Brandon and Westman Christmas Cheer Registry received nearly $75,000 from donors during the last three weeks alone to surpass its annual fundraising target of $92,000 for the holiday season.

The recently concluded Canada Post strike also contributed to delays, as many donations were sent by mail. The registry expects the current amount raised so far — currently pegged at $104,536 — to keep growing over the next few weeks as more of the held-up mail arrives.

“For sure, we had some difficulties with people getting their cheques to us,” said Synthia Wright, the non-profit organization’s social media manager. “Certainly, the postal strike didn’t help us, but we get very good donations from businesses and corporations, and in the last couple weeks, it seems to always push us over the edge.”

Even as it exceeded its 2024 goal for donations, the registry confirmed that demand for its Christmas hampers was higher-than-expected this holiday season. The hampers, which include poultry items, such as chicken, turkey or ham, also contain toys, clothing articles, and presents for children of various ages.

The original forecast of 1,100 hampers needed for families in the community this Christmas season was too low given the more than 1,500 requests they received. Thanks to contributions made by individual volunteers, groups and businesses throughout western Manitoba and beyond, who adopted low-income families leading up to the holidays, organizers of Christmas Cheer were able to serve everyone who applied for a hamper by the application deadline in November.

Despite the additional demand this year, the Christmas Cheer registry did the best it could in terms of managing their storage space leading up to the holidays. With the city’s help, and the dedication of individual volunteers, the non-profit made efficient use of its space located on the corner of Rosser Avenue and Seventh Street.

“We had over 4,000 boxes in total with 1,500 hampers, and we were so cramped for space. We just cannot move down there. It is just a well-oiled machine, but you can probably imagine it with all the thousands of boxes and groceries and presents and everything that it’s very difficult,” said Wright.

“I’ve noticed some of our regular donors have donated significantly more. We’ve got some new businesses that haven’t donated before that gave us very large sums of money. So those are the types of things that put us over the top,” said the group’s treasurer, Bob Walberg. He also highlighted the organization’s increased budget since inflation, which became a concern for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People have been very generous at a good time too, because our budget has increased 30 per cent or more since before COVID. Back then, our budget was $50,000 or $60,000, but now it’s $90,000 because of the cost of food and supplies due to inflation,” Walberg explained.

Founded in 1955, next Christmas will mark the Brandon and Westman Christmas Cheer Registry’s 70th anniversary, and it plans to honour board members of the past who have served the community since its inception.

“We’re working on a theme of trying to recognize all these former board members, just an early-stage thought right now, but something that we’ll begin to focus on in the new year,” said Walberg, who believes the holidays are a time for communities to come together and spread joy by lifting others up.

» dstein@brandonsun.com

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