THUNDER BAY -- A shortfall of $27,000 from last year’s Christmas Cheer campaign means there will be less food in this year’s hampers.
“Unfortunately we had to really look at it and say we can’t keep going in debt,” said Christmas Cheer fund chairwoman Linda Gambee.
Usually the organization spends $185,000 on food. They cut that by $20,000 this year, so they’ll start $7,000 in the hole, which Gambee said is manageable.
By spending less, some tough choices will have to be made and Cheer recipients will notice a couple less cans in their hampers this Christmas.
Christmas Cheer launched its 2012 campaign Friday at the CLE’s Cardinal Room and Gambee announced this year’s goal is $160,000.
Calls for hampers have come in earlier than ever before and many of those have been from people affected by the city’s May flood. And with the United Way predicting a $95,000 shortfall in their 2012 campaign, Gambee said she is concerned, but it’s not at the top of mind for her.
“Our community is amazing. They’ve already started fundraising for us,” she said, adding they’ve had $40,000 come in before they launched Friday.
“I think the community will pull us through. That doesn’t negate the fact it’s a stressful time of year and not only for businesses that are struggling but for individuals who want their own families to have Christmas and then to try to pull out that little bit extra to help another family. It’s going to be a tough time,” Gambee added.
Christmas Cheer is trying some new initiatives this year. Gambee said they can’t rely on the status quo to reach their goal. They’ve been running bingos the past several months and also held a two-bit auction Thursday evening that was so successful, they had to put a sold-out sign on the door.
They’ll also be hosting an evening at Prince Arthur’s Landing on Dec. 8 at the skating rink with live entertainment.
While Christmas Cheer is an organization that feeds people for just one week of the year, it is an important week, said Gambee.
By providing food at Christmas, that helps alleviate a big cost for families.
“They don’t have to make a decision between do we pay our rent, do we pay our utilities or do we give our kids Christmas,” she said. “I do believe we reduce some of that stress for those families.”
Christmas Cheer also couldn’t survive without the help of community partners. Perhaps their biggest partner is Toys for Tots and chairman Bob Vander Ploeg said the two go hand-in-hand.
Christmas Cheer began in the 1950s to help provide people with a Christmas meal. Vander Ploeg said the firefighters saw this as a chance to make the holiday even more special by giving toys to children.
“It all started that way. Christmas Cheer first and Toys for Tots second. It grew into a partnership wehre now we work together to the extent that all the toys we give to families are distributed along with the food through Christmas Cheer,” he said.
“We couldn’t do it without them.”
Toys for Tots kicked off on Nov. 14 and while they are a little behind from this time last year, Vander Ploeg said they aren’t pushing the panic button yet as most of their donations normally come in December.
To register for Christmas Cheer, call 622-2286. The deadline to register is Dec. 14 at 4 p.m.
