The Salvation Army Christmas kettle campaign is already in full swing in Langley, but another important project is also underway to help those in need.
The Gateway of Hope homeless shelter expects to provide approximately 500 Christmas hampers to singles, seniors and people with grown children this year. They’re asking for the community’s help to provide canned and non-perishable food items to fill the hampers, said Salvation Army’s Troy Gaglardi.
In the past, they have used gift cards, but this practise has become exponentially more expensive, he said.
“So we are turning to the community to help supply the much-needed food items.
“It seems it is more appealing for families to take the kids shopping and pick up a few of the items from our hamper list and drop them off to Gateway — and that works wonderfully for us,” said Gaglardi.
Here is a list of the most needed items for the Christmas Hampers this year:
• boxed cereal
• Kraft dinner
• cans of soup
• cans of chunky soup
• canned vegetables
• canned fruit
• canned brown beans
• peanut butter
• jam
• cans of salmon or tuna
• boxes of pasta
• cans of pasta sauce
• instant noodles
• cookies / granola bars
Gateway of Hope is located beside Kwantlen Polytechnic University at 5787 Langley Bypass. Call 604-514-7375.