It may seem a little early to start preparing for the Christmas holiday’s, but for some in Regina, it’s never too early to help other people.
The Regina Motorcycle Association partnered with the Salvation Army Haven of Hope to kick off the 2022 Christmas season with their annual Toy Run.
“We had a great turn out again we collected just shy of 700 toys, so far we’ve received about $1400 in donations but we’ve been told there are more coming,” said Kristin Gray, captain of the Salvation Army Regina Haven of Hope.
With inflation on the rise and more and more people feeling the effects, Gray explained that she’s heard from volunteers, who now require the services of the Salvation Army.
On top of this, the beginning of the school year brings added pressure.
“One of the biggest things we’ve seen out of our backpack campaign, in the past we’ve been able to purchase supplies and a backpack for about $25 per child, this year it was closer to $40 per child,” said Gray.
“It’s been a busy September for us,” said John Bailey, C.E.O. of the Regina Food Bank.
“What we normally see this time of year is a lot of increased economic pressure on families there’s a lot of extra cost associated with starting school so that tends to result in a little bit of an uptick in numbers for us.”
Many local outreach programs feel the same. The need continues to grow, both in donations, and mouths to feed.
And as the first holiday of the season approaches, the demand will most likely increase.
“We’re anticipating more people needing support especially with some of those pressures with inflationary pressures plus just generally speaking trying to dig out from debt or whatnot from sort of surviving the pandemic,” said Bailey.
While the Regina Food Bank will look to help people enjoy holiday meals, first they are teaming up with Tim Horton’s this September.
“All the proceeds from smile cookies sold between the 19th and the 25th will go directly to Regina Food Bank,” Bailey explained.
“It’s just an opportunity to make sure everybody in the city has a reason to smile this September.”
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