Amid tough times, Christmas hamper campaign gets underway
LETHBRIDGE – It’s already time to think about the less fortunate for Christmas – and there will be a lot more this year.
For a tenth year, the Salvation Army, Lethbridge Food Bank, and Interfaith Food Bank are teaming up for their annual campaign, and are now taking registrations. And Danielle McIntyre, executive director of Interfaith Food Bank, says the economic downturn is already bringing more people through their doors.
“Every month we are seeing an average of an additional 100 families at each food bank,” she said. “At Christmastime we usually serve a lot of extra people, and so for our Christmas hampers this year we are projecting an additional 500 households (more) than we normally do.”
That translates to 2,200 housholds, 3,500 adults and 2,000 children. To add to the burden, a flooded basement at the Salvation Army earlier in the year destroyed most of the toys that were aleady being stored.