Caledon Community Services pressing on with annual Santa Fund

Written By ALYSSA PARKHILL

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Holidays have been drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, whether with adaptions or cancellations. With Christmas being the next major holiday coming up, many local organizations are making decisions over whether or not to run their annual events. 

Caledon Community Services (CCS) has begun looking ahead into the upcoming festive season and their annual Santa Fund.

In partnership with the Caledon Fire Department, CCS reaches out to the community to help raise funds as well as food perishables for those less fortunate come Christmas time. 

The annual tradition has been ongoing since 1982, and this year being full of struggles and challenges, makes the fund extra important. 

“The need isn't going away, it's only increasing, and so, when you have a group of struggling families looking for assistance, you just don't stop,” said Nicole Hand, Chief Development Officer at CCS. “Instead, you find better, safer and more efficient ways to serve them. CCS and The Exchange are synonymous in this community with the word help; that's our job, and we're going to continue to do it.”

With safety restrictions and protocols in place, many adaptions were necessary to be made to keep staff, and the community safe from the virus. 

In result, toys and gifts will not be collected this year, but gift cards will be provided for each child to allow safe shopping for items on their wish list. The team will continue to accept perishable and non-perishable food items. 

“Planning for the 2020 Santa Fund was a process that was highly directed by Public Health restrictions and recommendations. Client, Volunteer and staff safety was of highest priority while concurrently balancing the need to provide essential supports to those in most need over the holidays,” explained Michelle Veinot, Director of Community Resources. “Through direct client outreach and surveys', we were able to determine what supports were logically the best to distribute during the pandemic. 

She added, “This ultimately ruled in the decision to provide gift cards for families accessing the Santa Fund program.”

CCS has received support for all kinds of organizations from the community including Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Detachment, local schools and churches and members of the community.

“These groups understand the importance in continuing to donate food, gift cards and funds in order for us to continue to provide for Caledon families in need,” said Veinot. 

“The first thing CCS recognized was that although some events had to be cancelled, and others had to be modified, we simply couldn't let a global pandemic stop engagement with our supporters, donors and volunteers completely,” said Hand. “The effects of the pandemic have been devastating and have caused us to see an influx in request for help.

“We weren't going to let challenges like COVID-19 get in the way of fulfilling our mission, so instead we got creative, explored ways to put technology to use, and launched new ways to connect with the community through initiatives like our Virtual Gala and the ChangeMaker Round-Up at The Register Program,” she added. 

For further information about this years' Santa Fund, and how you can donate, please visit ccs4u.org.