VANCOUVER—While most of us have food and gifts aplenty during this festive season, a Christmas wish for the poor and the marginalized can be as basic as putting food on the table or clothes on the kids.
To soften the blow of an impoverished Christmas, many organizations throughout Vancouver, from corporate to grassroots, give their all to provide for the less fortunate.
One such group is Gather and Give, a non-profit charity working with the poor in Metro Vancouver which partners with over 80 agencies to provide essential goods.
Gather and Give’s aim is to make available an inventory of winter, home, starter, and other “essentials” kits to those in need – and not just at Christmas, but all year long.
Utilizing its storage facility, a mobile van, and a core team of volunteers — many of whom have come through social service agency referrals to acquire new social and job skills — goods are packaged and distributed to those in need.
“In terms of our scope of services, we are a friend to everybody,” said Jennifer Lee, founding executive director of Gather and Give.
“Gather and Give seeks to connect and grow stronger communities. Through the provision of basics to those needing a helping hand, we connect donors wanting to give directly to those in need, and offer volunteer opportunities that challenge people to connect with their neighbours.”
Last week, with temperatures plunging below normal, the City of Vancouver, in partnership with the Street to Home Foundation, opened up an additional 200 shelter beds throughout the city.
According to Keela Keeping of Union Gospel Mission, the UGM shelter is at total capacity. Many volunteers are working overtime to provide extra blankets, sleeping bags and winter outerwear to keep people protected from the grueling cold nights on the streets.
UGM’s Christmas catalogue encourages donors to “give joy” through funding the Woman’s Drop-in Centre for moms and babies in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Also helping women in the DTES is a collaboration between the Vancouver Police Department and Jen Allen, Founder of Jen’s Kitchen. The two have teamed up to distribute more than 1000 donated bath, body, and make-up items — small comforts that are often cost prohibitive.
Besides the marginalized, many are struggling to live within diminished means, with the current recession rapidly adding larger numbers to the category of the working poor.
Covenant House, an organization that has been helping street youth for decades, provides Christmas dinner to all who want it, and gives encouragement away free of charge. And established social service agencies like the Salvation Army continue to reach out to the urban poor.
In the workplace, caring businesses and service providers collect boxes of food, clothing and other essentials and in so doing reflect a workplace culture that has heartfelt integrity, is “other- centered” and moved to action.
Media savvy campaigns, such as JRfm’s “Basics for Babies” and City TV’s “Food Bank Friday” have provided a popular option for Christmas giving.
On a corporate level, the Province’s Empty Stocking Fund continues its annual drive to collect funds and distribute them to agencies across the Lower Mainland.
