WELLINGTON COUNTY – For the second year, the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington has launched its Wishes for Winter campaign as part of its annual Winter Wear program.
The program aims remove the burden on low-income families to purchase items such as winter coats and boots when budgets are tight.
With increased costs, the funding available will not be enough to help all the children who register for this program, officials reported.
The Wishes for Winter campaign allows people to sponsor a family and directly purchase winter wear for the youth themselves.
“For low-income households, they spend more than 30 per cent of their income on shelter and as a result, they have to sacrifice rent or grocery money to make sure their children are properly clothed for the cold weather,” said community engagement coordinator Ali Kane-Declaire.
Last year, 36 out of 154 children were sponsored through the Wishes for Winter Campaign.
This year the goal is to provide 280 children with winter wear and have 75 of these children sponsored by the community through the Wishes for Winter campaign.
Sponsoring a family with one child costs $100 to $200, two-child families are $150 to $300 and three-child families are $250 to $450.
Kane-Declaire added that people who don’t have the means to sponsor an entire family can still make monetary donations through the Community Resource Centre website.
Selecting the Winter Wear program when making the donations will ensure it goes toward the cause.
Based on the sponsors completed registration package, the Community Resource Centre will match sponsors with a family and provide details of what they need this winter to keep warm.
Items will include a combination (or all) of winter boots, snow pants and coats.
The deadline to register as a sponsor is Sept. 12
In mid to late September, the Community Resource Centre will provide the sponsor with all sizing and gender information they will need to start shopping.
They will not provide personal information or identifiers of the family.
Once the sponsor purchases the items, they can be dropped off at the Fergus location, 900 Tower St. South. The deadline to drop off purchased items is Oct. 24.
Sponsors can arrange for pick-up if drop-off during office hours does not work for their schedule.
The centre asks that sponsors do not provide any identifiers in their package drop-off.
For more information or to support the campaign visit communityresourcecentre.org.
