Seniors and unemployed workers are among the folks who will be in need of a helping hand this Christmas.
Family Services of Greater Vancouver is hard at work preparing for the Caring Neighbours program, which matches families and seniors with community members at Christmas.
“It’s a program that connects families who need help at Christmas with community members who want to make a difference at Christmas,” said Heather Scott, director of development at Family Services. “We want to kick off this year’s campaign with a bit of a community celebration.”
Everyone’s invited to a community barbecue on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Caps Bicycle Shop, 434 East Columbia St.
“Santa might make an appearance,” Scott said. “It’s a little early for him, but he says he might be able to come.”
Family Services will give a brief overview of the program and thank community members for their support. The event includes children’s activities.
“It’s an opportunity for the community to come together to have a party to kick off the campaign,” Scott said.
Family Services of Greater Vancouver started offering the adopt-a-family program last year, when Fraserside Community Services was no longer able to provide the service.
“We had 101 families,” Scott said of the inaugural year. “We were really, really excited that everyone got matched.”
Scott said it’s commonly thought that people involved in the program are on social assistance, but the organization found that most of the families were new to the program and enrolled because they were unemployed or under-employed and couldn’t afford to buy Christmas gifts.
The Caring Neighbour program is expanding to include seniors, particularly those who may not be engaged in other programs in the city and need help in breaking their isolation.
“Seniors was an issue that came up last year,” said Tulia Castellanos, director of community engagement. “When we looked at our statistics, we have a lot of seniors experiencing poverty. We are going to include seniors.”
Although Christmas is still more than two months away, Family Services has already fielded calls about the program, both from people wanting to register and some wanting to help.
