The Children’s Foundation of Guelph Wellington reached its target goal of helping every family that registered for its Adopt-A-Family Program who were referred by the deadline to a community donor.
The program matches donors with families in need, with The Children’s Foundation on Guelph Wellington announcing on Friday it was successful with zero families waiting for the support this holiday season.
Karyn Kirkwood, the senior director of development at the Children’s Foundation of Guelph Wellington said the foundation is currently helping 1,376 families through program.
For perspective, last year 1,434 families in total were helped, and the organization expects to be at around that same amount this year.
While the foundation has matched all registered families, there are still emergency referrals that came come in after the deadline which the foundation is set to help until the holiday break.
Kirkwood said while the organization continues to receive later, emergency referrals and are committed to helping them as best we can right up to the holiday break.
“Never doubt the generosity of this community,” said Kirkwood. “It always kind of amazes me every year even though I see it year after year, but we are doing really well for this time of year to have them all supported at this point.”
Kirkwood said the organization needs close to $100,000 in gift cards each year to support families through the program, with the program still short on the dollar figure needed to purchase the gift cards in bulk.
"The need is to raise another $30,000 to $50,000 to purchase gift cards in bulk," said Kirkwood.
Once donated, the gift cards are distributed to the families in need and those who have requested gift cards.
The need has slightly risen after last year’s model went entirely in gift card format, which Kirkwood says some families prefer because they can purchase the most needed items using those gift cards.
Donations of gift cards or cash donations allow the foundation to purchase gift cards in bulk to ensure every family in need this holiday season can be helped.
Kirkwood said it's important for organizations to receive support during the holiday season, but it is important to keep in mind some families in the region require support year-round.
