Winter wishes have been granted for several children and families in Centre Wellington.
As part of the 'Winter Wear' program at the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington, 154 children and youth received new winter coats, snow pants and boots to help them get though the cold winter months.
Ali Kane-DeCaire, community engagement and fund development coordinator at the centre, said an exciting addition to the program – known as 'Wishes for Winter' – was added this year to help support the cost of winter wear for children and youth who really need it.
"As part of our 'Winter Wear' program, and to help with the cost of these items, we offered the opportunity for people in the community to become donors, to actually go out, shop and purchase items that were needed," Kane-DeCaire said.
"And 25 of 63 families were supported through our first 'Wishes for Winter' campaign."
A community benefit agency for municipalities in North and Centre Wellington, the Community Resource Centre in Fergus offers programs designed to fill the gaps in community service and to help ensure everyone has a chance to succeed.
"The 'Wishes for Winter' campaign just started this year, as part of the original program, the 'Winter Wear' program, which was launched in October. That program has been running for four years," Kane-DeCaire explained.
"This year, we brainstormed and we thought well, what if we offer the chance for people to donate and purchase items themselves?"
Items were purchased for the 25 families and the remaining families, 63 in total, were supported through local donations and sponsorship.
"We did receive two very large sponsorships from Dakota's Truck Services Ltd. in Elora, and Central Pentecostal Church. They each made $5,000 donations. That helped with the remaining purchases," Kane-DeCaire said.
"We also received several other monetary donations, called program friend donations, that were smaller donations, between $100 and $300. In total, we were able to support 154 children."
Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington offers a variety of services such as childcare services, outreach and support services, EarlyON child and family services, recreation programs and transportation.
It's stated mission is to foster self sufficiency valued on respect, integrity and cooperation.
"Most of our programs are in place to help families who are struggling financially. And so, we create these unique campaigns where can remove them having to purchase certain items. For somebody whose living on a budget, those big budget items can make things difficult," Kane-DeCaire said.
"So, if we remove the burden of having to make these purchases, such as winter coats, it opens up and allows them to redirect their limited funds and pay for things like groceries, rent or utilities."
Kane-DeCaire said although this is just one of the way the organization helps families, it does go a long way.
"It definitely is a great program that we intend to keep running and we would like to grow our participant numbers too," she said.
"Our volunteers are involved as well. They really enjoy participating and giving back to the community in this way."
The resource centre will continue to look at different ways to help increase funding next year.
"We know that there are more families that can use our support. Our registration fills up very quickly, within just a matter of a couple of days. There are more out there who can use our help," Kane-DeCaire said.
"By just putting up a few social media posts and then to receive the support that we did, it was really nice to see. We are overwhelmed by the generosity from the community."
