Salvation Army Christmas Gift Program Undergoes Changes to Promote Equality

The Salvation Army in Maple Ridge, B.C., has made some changes to its Christmas Village Gift program to ensure that all families receive an equal and fair number of gifts this Christmas. What was formerly known as the Adopt a Family program, has been renamed and sponsors help all clients instead of focusing on one family.

Previously, participating clients wrote wish lists and sponsoring families tried to fulfill them.

While the program ran well for over 20 years, Corina Ardelean, community and family services advocate, and Fundraising Coordinator, Amelia Norrie, explained that the way the program ran was created a bit of inequity in what people received.

“The amount of people that we are serving in our community has gone up exponentially.”

“We are now facing something that I don’t think we were facing 20 years ago. The amount of people that we are serving in our community has gone up exponentially, our stats are going through the roof, breaking records every month. It’s just not feasible anymore to go about it that way,” Corina said.

The Christmas Village Gift program now allows families to pick their gifts based on a selection. This ensures everyone has access to the same things.

“We have asked our sponsors to do one of two things. They can either send us money and we shop for the items on our list, or we send them a list of things that we suggest they buy according to their budget,” Corina added.

All the gift items collected are displayed on shelves at the admin office for clients to pick out what they want and need.

“Our admin office will be turned into a Christmas market, where things are going to be displayed on shelves and families are going to go through and pick for themselves,” Corina said.

While many Christmas programs focus mostly on children, the Christmas Village Gift program emphasizes its eagerness to help families as a whole, as well as those who may not have many people in their lives.

“We serve the whole family, including the parents, we also serve seniors and single people.”

“We believe that everybody has Christmas. We serve the whole family, including the parents, we also serve seniors and single people,” Corina shared.

The innovations in the program also encourage more sponsors to join. The changes allow for individuals who may not afford to spend too much, but who still want to give back, to contribute what they can afford and still help fill the “Christmas market”.

Thanks to the donations to the Christmas Village Gift program, families and individuals will be able to provide a memorable Christmas for themselves and their loved ones.

The Salvation Army programs that are available throughout the year are also possible thanks to the donations to the Christmas Kettle Campaign.

By Juan Romero