Demand for help was high but giving was up and down around Greater Victoria this holiday season.
“Overall, it was a great success. We managed to have everything we needed,” said Pat Humble, from the Salvation Army Stan Hagen Centre for Families.
This year, the Salvation Army and the Mustard Seed partnered with the Times Colonist Christmas Fund to help the city’s poor and struggling through the holiday season. The Christmas fund raised $274,895, with donations still coming in — more than the past two years and the biggest amount since 2011.
The Salvation Army and Mustard Seed took over distribution of the funds through their hamper programs and a sponsored dinner.
Humble said the Salvation Army usually gives out 1,400 hampers but this year distributed 2,500. The agency also supplied 800 families with toys. However, the traditional kettle campaign raised only $157,000, well under the goal of $225,000.
“That was a bit disappointing,” said Humble, noting they did receive more donations of items such as gifts and toys. He said they are still waiting to tally online and text donations.
The organization is also trying to figure out what happened to more than 200 people who registered for a Christmas hamper but did not show up or return calls to pick them up.
“It’s strange. Some people were called six or seven times. We couldn’t get a hold of them,” said Humble. The leftover hamper items were distributed at the centre’s food bank.
The Mustard Seed was “crazy busy over the holidays,” said director of development Allan Lingwood. Sign-ups for Christmas hampers increased from 600 to 1,100 with the Christmas fund partnership this year, and 590 gifts were handed out to children. “People left crying. They were so happy with the abundance of what was in the hampers,” said Lingwood.
Singles, couples and families were invited to come different days of the week and pick out a standard non-perishable hamper, then add fresh items and choose between a turkey or a grocery gift card.
The organization also had a number of no-shows for its registered pick-up times. About 100 people didn’t come on their appointed day, but Lingwood said half of those came on the emergency hamper days, citing reasons including lack of transportation.
The Mustard Seed’s gift-wrapping fundraiser in local shopping centres was down this year, raising $62,000 compared with $74,000 last year.
Our Place was one of the few, if not the only, social-service agency open throughout the holidays and offering meals and shelter to the city’s homeless.
“We had an incredibly busy Christmas,” said communications director Grant McKenzie. “We opened 24/7 for a lot of it because we didn’t want to close our doors in the cold weather between the emergency shelter program and our regular hours.”
McKenzie said the organization saw a huge increase in demand for meals and shelter this year, with many new faces.
“Not just the street-entrenched but many working poor and seniors. The need certainly caught us by surprise,” he said, noting in December alone they served more than 64,000 meals. Last year, they served 40,000 in the same month.
McKenzie said December is the biggest month for donations. While the organization has not yet tallied 2014 giving numbers, he said response was good, with many new donors.
Our Place hopes to raise enough funds to continue operating for extended hours in the winter next year.
