Just days after the start of registration, hundreds of people have already applied for help from .
For the 2024 holiday season, the charitable organization launched Tuesday (Oct. 15) for assistance programs including food vouchers, Toy Depot and Adopt-A-Family. Three days in, the number of registrants neared 300, according to Karmin Dhindsa, new to the job of Christmas Bureau co-ordinator.
"We had a bit of a hiccup with the website on the first day, but it's been steady since then, lots and lots of people registering," Dhindsa said Friday (Oct. 18).
This year the charitable organization鈥檚 Toy Depot will return to the former Canadian Tire building in Whalley (13665 102 Ave.), thanks to another donation of retail space by Anthem Properties, developers of the adjacent Georgetown project.
"We'll move into the space in early November," Dhindsa noted, "and the doors will open for pickups starting Nov. 19. The week before that is when we start taking donations and gifts at the Toy Depot, when we're set up for that, but we'll take monetary donations at any time. Send in those cheques!"
Dhindsa, a lifelong 性视界传媒 resident and Fleetwood Park Secondary grad, started on the job Sept. 23, replacing executive director Lisa Werring, now with .
Full of energy and ideas, Dhindsa has won awards for her charitable work, and recently graduated from UBC with a degree in science and microbiology.
"So that's not exactly related to this," she said with a laugh, "but over the last few years I've done a lot of community work. I founded two of my own community non-profits, one supporting local small businesses, and my new venture is in volunteerism, a platform for drop-in volunteer opportunities and accessible for free online. I think it's a great platform, because scheduling is a huge issue."
Now, her tasks include attracting new volunteers to the Christmas Bureau's Toy Depot and related programs.
"I've always been involved in the community, and so that's why I decided to take on this new role," Dhindsa said. "With my soccer teams, we adopted a few families in past years, so I knew about these programs, but I didn't know about the Toy Depot, which we really want to transform into Santa's Workshop this year. Some companies have reached out to do some decor, to make it look really good with great decorations."
Last year, 性视界传媒 Christmas Bureau set records by giving gifts to 5,143 children and $262,080 in grocery vouchers to families in need, the equivalent of more than 24,570 meals.
This year, families can register for help until Dec. 1 online (), or call 604-581-9623 to get the process started.
"We're definitely expecting even higher numbers this year," Dhindsa said during an interview at the Christmas Bureau's office on 104 Avenue. "We anticipate a lot more need this year. Even before the registration launch, in the couple of weeks I've been here, we've been getting so many phone calls and messages from people needing support, like, 'How can I register and when?'"
With rising numbers of recipients, more financial and volunteer help is needed by the organization.
"We're definitely in need of more sponsors," Dhindsa said, "so we're going to try a few different avenues this year, reach out to more businesses and see if we can really get those partnerships going.
"We focus on the hamper program, and also toy donations is a big part of what we do," she added. "Our focus is to get cash donations and also new, unwrapped gifts. We want children to have new toys, new gifts, so that when they go back to school and talk about their holidays, they can say they got a gift, when kids are talking about that. It's something every child deserves, a gift."
A big need is gifts for teens, she said, "because we are seeing a growing number of teens in the program, and it's a little bit more challenging. When someone is donating toys, their focus is on smaller children but teens are just as important. So for teens, gift ideas include makeup kits, any sort of hair accessories. We also have a Sporty Elves program to encourage sports-related gifts from local sports teams and organizations, like soccer balls and gear, basketball, clothing."
