Christmas hampers in Tillsonburg
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The Salvation Army has been active in Tillsonburg for more than 125 years.
And most of those years, said Donna Acre, Community Ministries Coordinator for The Salvation Army Tillsonburg, they have had a Christmas hamper program.
“That’s always been part of our mandate. I’ve been doing the hamper program 18 years. We do this every year and Tillsonburg and the surrounding communities are extremely generous. We can’t do this program without all the donations that come in. The community helps us to help others.”
Last year they distributed 325 Christmas hampers in the community, and this year’s target was around 300.
“It’s always better when we need less… that means things are getting better. But I’ve been getting a lot more people in for other issues.”
Acre noted the local Knights of Columbus (St. Mary’s Church) also runs a similar Christmas hamper program, but she wasn’t sure of their numbers.
“Their numbers are usually around 80.”
Donations have been coming in over the past couple of months, and continue to come in.
“The Kettles are down, but the donations coming in are up,” said Acre on Dec. 6. “Toys… they were a little slow, definitely for the teenage group, say 10-16, boys and girls.”
Christmas hampers consist of a box of food, and a gift card – for a turkey or ham. Recipients with children can also pick out toys, separated into male/female categories by age, at The Salvation Army Church.
“Everybody gets generally the same box. If you’re a really large family, two boxes.”
Included are basic food staples like cereal, peanut butter, jam… etc.
“Enough stuff for about a week to carry people through Christmas. There’s also a voucher for the (Salvation Army’s annual) Christmas meal.”
Acre said the Christmas season is their busiest of the year, but there is always a need for food donations.
“We give out food all year long. We have an emergency food bank. If someone comes in, and needs help until they can get to the (Helping Hands) food bank, we can help them.”