Christmas is fast approaching and although things may feel a lot different with the uncertainty of being able to get together with families this year, because of the rising number of COVID cases in our province, people may still want to help out with giving to the less fortunate in our community.
For the past 23 years, the Martensville Fire Department (MFD) has been organizing ‘Food Hampers’ to help families in our community in need of some extra help through the holiday season and to help make their Christmas a little brighter.
Typically, every year, non-perishable food and other items are collected from schools, businesses, groups, and individuals from around the community.
Organizer James Taylor said things will have to be a bit different this year and the exact details are still being sorted out. “Given the current circumstances of our world this year, we have had to adjust how this year’s hampers are going to look.”
Taylor states that there are several dynamics of collecting, sorting, and delivering hampers and necessary precautions need to be taken. In order to prevent the spread of COVID, they have decided that, “Basically we are only accepting monetary donations this year in the form of gift cards, cash, or cheque. Any monetary donations will be used to purchase gift cards from local businesses for groceries, Christmas presents, etc.”
Taylor also explained that all items purchased will be distributed amongst the identified families as per the usual protocols.
If anyone wants to participate, they can write a cheque made payable to the ‘Martensville Firefighters Association’, or collections in the form of gift cards or cash can be dropped off at Martensville City Hall.
PHOTO ABOVE: In previous years, the Martensville Fire Department collected food donations leading up to Christmas and had various local service groups provide help packaging the donations into food hampers to be distributed to local families.
