The Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington’s sixth annual Trees for Tots event raised a record-breaking $55,024 on Jan. 6.
All funds raised go directly to support local children and youth living in low-income situations.
The foundation’s four core programs are designed to build hope for lifelong change and break the cycle of poverty.
“Trees for Tots is a brilliant event model,” said Kasia Rusiniak, Children’s Foundation events manager.
“By providing a necessary service to thousands of people city-wide, it benefits from the amount of donors engaged so that even if people feel they do not have a lot to give, they can be part of a truly incredible impact.”
That impact is felt by over 20,000 children each year yet the foundation is annually faced with a funding gap between the thousands of local children in need and those it is able to support.
Rusiniak credits the strength of community support with allowing the foundation, and events like Trees for Tots, such great success.
“We say it all the time, but we literally could not do it on our own,” she said.
Trees for Tots is made possible through the dedication and commitment of volunteers assisting with outreach initiatives, planning logistics, taking registrations and picking up and chipping over 3,200 trees.
Guelph residents registered to have their discarded Christmas trees picked-up for a minimum $10 donation. All trees were collected, chipped and used in local naturalization projects at Ignatius Jesuit Centre.
“It really is a win-win-win,” Rusiniak said.
Registrants whose trees may have been missed are asked to contact the Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington Trees for Tots hotline at 519-826-9551 ext. 25 or by email at trees4tots@childrensfoundation.org.
