With costs soaring in 2022, not-for-profit groups in New Brunswick say the demand for toys for children in need is rising this Christmas — but so is their determination to meet that demand.
Amanda Pooley, founder of What Kids Need Moncton, said it has been their “busiest season” yet for the Snowflake Station project which provides new toys to children.
“The cost of everything has gone up — the cost of groceries, the cost of gas, the cost of housing — it is just more expensive for families to survive, let alone have any extra money for something like Christmas presents,” said Pooley.
The group had 1,205 registered children this season for new toys, along with more than 700 people at their open house where second-hand toys were available. This is up from a combined 1,222 last year for the new and used toys projects.
On top of this, Pooley said sponsorships for children were down. This year, only 498 were sponsored, while last year, there were more than 700.
With each sponsorship, there is an expectation of around $50-$60 spent for each child, which might not be possible for a lot of people to manage this year.
So Pooley started an Amazon wish list for items under $30, where people could purchase something and have it sent to What Kids Need Moncton.
Because of this, every child that was registered had a box made for them, she said. The boxes included the toy, a book and sometimes a stuffed animal if it’s for a little one.
But despite the challenges of being volunteer-run, having a low sponsorship rate and high registration rate, Pooley said, she stays committed to the cause, because she was once in need of help herself.
She was in a women’s shelter with her baby a number of years ago and was given used clothing and toys, an experience that inspired her to create Snowflake Station.
“It’s personal for me,” said Pooley. “I started it because I’ve been in the situation and people helped me. So I want to give back the same way.”
Alexa English, the project and volunteer coordinator for Greener Village in Fredericton, said she has also seen a rise in demand for their angel tree this year.
Every year, families of the Greener Village food bank can have their children’s first names on the angel tree. The tree, which was in Regent Mall this year, has paper angels each with a child’s name, age, what they want for Christmas and a spending limit.
Anyone can take an angel off the tree and shop for the child on it, then return the gifts to the organization to be picked up by the families.
There were almost 3,000 angels this year, said English. She said last year, by late December, they had 2,600 angels which included late registrations. But this year, they hit 2,900 by November.
“That increase is very sharp for us. So you know, we can only do the best that we can. And we had to try and figure out how we were going to meet the demand,” said English. “And the community this year has really stepped up to do that.”
She said their corporate sponsors for the project rose this year to more than 30, compared to 23 last year. These sponsors took some of the angels and put them up in their businesses and offices, taking care of many of the children before the angel tree actually went up, said English.
English said Exit Realty, one of their sponsors, also did some fundraising for Greener Village, which brought in $11,600 to go toward filling the need for Christmas toys.
“We can’t do it without the community support on a large scale like that,” she said.
As of two weeks before Christmas, English said every angel was fulfilled and most families have already picked up the gifts.
She said every year, they see “everyday working people” step up to support the project and make sure all the angels are spoken for.
English said for the most part, “it’s just average people who contact us and say … ‘How can we help?'”
This story was originally published in CBC News on Dec. 21, 2022.
Hannah Rudderham Portfolio 