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Christmas Family
Sponsorship Program
What is It?
A woman who has left her
abusive partner in the last calendar year is eligible to be sponsored.
The program matches her and her children with an interested sponsor in the
community who helps make her family’s first Christmas easier. Sponsors
purchase gifts for the woman and her children as well as provide the
family with food vouchers so that she can make a Christmas dinner for her
family. Women in this program have made use of WRRC services in the
calendar year. We further prioritize by matching the most needy families
first.
NOTE: It is not
uncommon for there to be more women than sponsors: we cannot guarantee the
availability of families for sponsorship.
How does
it Work?
The WRRC contacts
eligible women to see if they are interested in being sponsored for
Christmas. If she is interested, the WRRC gets information from her about
her & her children’s Christmas wishes (ages, gender, clothes sizes,
interests/hobbies and/or specific requests).
This information
is passed on to sponsors with an identifying family number: sponsors never
have access to the family’s name. Sponsors are asked to consider the
requests/information, the budget they have available for the sponsorship
and then purchase items accordingly.
Special
Things to Note about Packaging
Sponsors are asked to
wrap mom’s gifts so that she can be surprised on Christmas morning. We
ask that the children’s gifts be left unwrapped: this is so that moms can
adjust their purchases accordingly as they are able. Moms sometimes like
to get companion items or they know to NOT get certain things that have
already been purchased.
Sponsors are
asked to put wrapping paper and/or gift bags in the packages for their
family along with some tape so that women can wrap the Christmas gifts
once they see what’s there.
With respect to
food items, it is easiest to purchase food vouchers for moms so that they
can purchase fresh & favourite items for a Christmas dinner, including a
special dessert. We ask that the amount of the voucher be adequate to
supply the dinner keeping in mind that she may have others present for the
meal. We find that most sponsors give around $50 - $100 in vouchers from
a grocery store. Some sponsors include extra grocery vouchers as
additional support for the family for the holidays. Vouchers also cut
down on the amount of space we need to store the packages until they are
picked up at the WRRC.
All of the
gifts/items purchased for this family should be put in boxes or bags with
the family number very clearly identified on ALL packages. It is helpful
to label the boxes/bags as “1 of 4” etc so that we make sure that none of
the family’s gifts get inadvertently taken apart for use in the shelter as
part of our regular donation process.
Drop
Off/Pick Up
As a sponsor, you will
be assigned a date to drop off your packages during the week of December
12th – December 16th. We ask you bring the packages to the agency on
that date between 9 am and 12 noon. This allows us to have
staff/volunteers handy to help unload the packages and get them inside
while ensuring that we are able to attend to the women & children resident
in shelter at the time, as we are single-staffed.
Other
Things
Women are provided with
their sponsor’s name & encouraged to send a thank you note. Some women
choose to do this – others don’t. You will receive written
acknowledgement from the agency as a result of your participation in the
program.
Yes! I would like to Sponsor a
Women and/or Family
Sponsor Information Form
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