With cost of living rising, Brandon's Christmas Cheer expecting busy year for hamper program

With many families continuing to struggle with the costs of living, southwestern Manitoba's biggest Christmas hamper program is bracing for a busy season.

Brandon-Westman Christmas Cheer officially launched its seasonal campaign Wednesday, with the goal of making sure "more kids can have a Christmas," said board treasurer Bob Walberg.

"It's awful for a kid to go back to school after Christmas and … [be asked], 'What did you get for Christmas…?' And the kid has to say, 'I didn't get anything. Santa forgot me,'" he said.

Walberg's own family got a hamper when he was a child — although he didn't know at the time.

The hamper brought the feeling that "Santa remembered me," he said.

Without it, his family, who were on social assistance, wouldn't have had a Christmas with presents, said Walberg.

While Christmas Cheer aims to make sure no child feels forgotten, there's a growing need for holiday hampers and limited space at the organization's headquarters.

"Last year we filled over 1,200 [hampers] and we were inundated," Walberg said. "That was too much for us in terms of physical space."

This year, Christmas Cheer is capping hampers at 1,100 at its headquarters, with a focus right now on processing requests that come through schools, social agencies and churches, Walberg said.

The hope is that other requests will be filled through Christmas Cheer's "adopt-a-family" program — which lets businesses, organizations or individuals register to make sure a family gets a hamper.

Volunteers can register to provide a hamper on the Christmas Cheer website until Nov. 17.

While the organization has to cap the number of hampers it puts together, there's no limit on the number of hampers through the adopt-a-family program, Walberg said.

Christmas Cheer board chair Myrna Lane says the adopt-a-family program will be essential because of the number of requests they are expecting this year.

"If someone is applying for a hamper that means they're in need," Lane said.

By applying to provide a hamper, she said, "we can help fill that need and we can make a merry Christmas for children."

Inflation pain

Meanwhile, the food bank at Brandon's Samaritan House Ministries has already sent out more hampers this year than in 2022, says executive director Barbara McNish, as many Brandon families are feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living.

Samaritan House filled 24,907 hampers last year — one of the busiest years the food bank has seen, said McNish. But this year, 25,579 hampers had already been sent out as of the end of September.

McNish says rising food bank usage numbers for Manitoba released last week point to the economic pressures people are facing.

"They're working for minimum wage, or they don't have enough money or funds to buy food and … [pay for] their accommodations," McNish said. "There's just a variety of different things that are happening."

This year, there's been a push to ensure Samaritan House has food for the shelves, McNish said, including fundraisers, school food drives and other initiatives.

That speaks to a desire to help, she said.

"I think that everybody is aware of somebody in their circle, whether that's family or friends … they're really struggling," McNish said.

"Anybody that helps Samaritan House, whether that's through a fundraising event, whether it's a donor, whether it's dropping off food items, they are helping their neighbour."