The Cloverdale Christmas Hamper program is in desperate need of assistance this year.
Hampers are to be handed out on Saturday, and as this is written Wednesday afternoon, there isn't nearly enough to hand out.
"For 20 years we have been serving families in need in Cloverdale, but this year donations are staggeringly low. We gratefully receive donations from schools, businesses and individuals, but from one donor alone donations are down by over 2000 pounds," says spokesman Holly Zonneveld."Donations from another key sponsor are down by 35,000 items. Last year we were able to provide several extra skids of food to the Surrey Food Bank after all of our hampers were filled, but this year it will be a stretch to even fill our own."
The hampers will go out on Saturday. Dec. 15, but they are likely to be much smaller than in the past,. unless there are some last-minute donations.
The hamper program expects to hand out about 230 hampers to people in need in the Cloverdale area. The families who will get hampers this year incllude 200 children and 30 babies.
"We have until Friday to collect donations to help people in need in our community. We have many volunteers standing by and we will happily work all night packing boxes with last-minute donations if we need to. We just want to make sure the neediest people in our community can come in on Saturday morning and we can offer them what they need to make this holiday season a little brighter. We would hate to turn anyone away empty-handed," says Zonneveld.
Donations can be dropped off at Pacific Community Church, the staging area for the hampers, at 5337 180 Street, south of Highway 10.