Christmas hampers will be delivered throughout Ladysmith next week, and the Ladysmith Resources Centre Association is hoping for an influx of cash before then to make sure those hampers are filled with enough food and toys to go around.
“Right now, cash contributions to the program are down significantly, and it is these cash contributions that allow us to purchase food for the hampers,” said executive director Dennis Lait.
The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association (LRCA) collects donations through its Christmas Cheer Fund to fill hampers with food and toys to make Christmas a little merrier for local families.
The deadline to register for a hamper is this Friday (Dec. 16).
Contact the LRCA at 250-245-3079 to register. Bring proof of residency, such as a rent receipt or a utility bill, as well as Care Cards for each person living in the home.
People can continue to donate cash, toys and food items for the hampers up until Dec. 19. The hampers will be assembled Dec. 19 and 20, and they will be delivered Dec. 21.
The LRCA has received more registrations for hampers than it had by this time last year.
“Right now, registrations are up, not drastically, but they are up,” Lait said late last week. “We’re over three-quarters of the way in registrations from last year, so we are up by almost 10 per cent.”
Lait says the LRCA particularly needs cash donations.
People can bring their cash donations to the LRCA office at 630 Second Ave. to receive a tax receipt or bring their loose change for the Pennies for Presents campaign at the Chronicle office at 341 First Ave.
Ladysmith’s Christmas hamper program started in 1934, and the LRCA took it over in 1997.
Last year, the LRCA gave out about 164 Christmas hampers.
