Editor's note: this story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
It’s an organization that helps spread Christmas cheer, and provides gifts to those in need. The fifth annual Adopt-A-Family Stratford is a program that started to support the community during the holiday season in 2020.
“We started when COVID was a thing and pretty much all programs had been shut down,” said administrator Ashley Jantzi. “No one was doing any type of Christmas program, and we saw an obvious need in our community while seeing posts on Stratford Facebook pages. So myself and two other ladies decided to help bring a little bit of Christmas magic to low-income families in Stratford.”
The program has changed since the original model, with gift cards for groceries and personal items being given out instead of physical gifts and food.
“2022 was our largest season with close to 200 families, and that translates into 400-500 gifts which takes a lot of space to store,” said Jantzi. “This is a program that we all do in our spare time, so we don’t have a designated storefront or anywhere we can store gifts.”
Last year the program supported 34 families but that number is much higher when you break down the size of a family.
“Families range from a single person all the way up with our largest family ever consisting of ten people,” said Jantzi. “So, 34 families translated into between 100 and 110 individuals. The largest year was 2022 with 197 people which translated to 54 families.”
She adds the program started as a way to give back, but thanks to the support of the community it has taken off over the last five years. Last year the organization was able to raise $6,400 in gift card donations, with 97 per cent of families requesting gift cards to grocery stores.
The Adopt-A-Family Stratford program is 100 percent anonymous. Businesses, individuals and families are encouraged to donate to the program, but they will never know who they supported.
For those looking to register, December 2 is the deadline, and you will need a few things when you register. The registration requires two parts, the first is simply putting in your name and the names of the people in your family along with what gift cards everyone is interested in receiving. The second piece is families need to send in their 2023 tax forms, so things like notice of assessment or any other tax forms verifying they are considered low-income.
Anyone looking to register, donate, or learn more can join the Adopt-A-Family Stratford Facebook page, send any administrator a personal message, or email [email protected]
