A highly successful Community Christmas, put on by St. Vincent de Paul Society and Vista Radio has concluded for another year in Prince George.
As some of the final donations of food and toys came into Country 97 and 94.3 the Goat, MyPGNow spoke with Bernie Goold, a 40-year volunteer with St. Vincent de Paul to get a sense of what these donations mean.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am deeply, deeply humbled by the generosity and trust that this community puts into our organization,” said Goold.
“Some of this stuff and some of the monetary donations that we have received secure us to be able to carry on giving families hampers right into January and February.”
Over $40,000 in donations, including $30,000 in cash has been given, and that’s not taking into account the online donations which will come out tomorrow (Friday).
Even with the generosity of the Prince George community, Goold said some tough decisions are looming.
“The rug has been pulled from under our feet as to the food that we can even get to put into the hampers this year.”
Goold said that supply chain issues are affecting grocery stores, and in turn affect what they can give to those in need.
“We’re going to make some very major decisions this weekend as to how we can fulfill giving something to the people that need it at Christmas. And that may be a voucher or something like that.”
In terms of who is receiving these hampers, Goold said they’ve seen an increase in the number of seniors asking for help.
“The seniors, who built this community, who stayed at home and looked after their children, don’t have private pensions, and mom doesn’t have very letting money coming in. It’s a sad, sad statistic, but we are thrilled to be able to help.”