Local stores help Hamper Fund

Teresa Bird

Gazette staff

Hamper Fund season is here and local businesses are getting on board to make the 2009 campaign a success.

Local grocery stores are making it easier for everyone to donate food to the fund. For just $7.99, shoppers can pick up a bag of non-perishable food items for hampers. Each bag contains canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing and gravy mix for a family hamper.

People can buy a bag and then donate it in-store at Overwaitea and Your Island Market in Port Hardy and at IGA and Super Valu in Port McNeill. Purchasing one of these bags ensures organizers have the groceries needed to fill the hampers with a complete Christmas dinner.

And remember, shoppers can donate their Save-On-More points to the Hamper Fund at Overwaitea in Port Hardy.

A toy drive for the Hamper Fund is underway this month at The Bargain Shop!, Rexall and True Value Hardware in Port Hardy. Purchase a new toy for a child 12 or younger and drop it in the donation box in store. Our team of Hamper elves will wrap the gift and make sure it gets into the hands of a child at Christmas.

Collection tins are also appearing in North Island stores this week, where shoppers can donate cash to the fund throughout the season.

Filling a hamper with food and toys costs about $75 for a family. Last year, the Gazette Hamper Fund provided 521 hampers to the North Island. The record number of requests cost $50,000 to fill.

Of that, $30,000 was donated by the generous people of the North Island in 2008, the remaining costs were covered by Hamper Fund reserves from previous years of generosity. That reserve in now depleted.

With the expected demand for hampers to be high again this year, the Gazette Hamper Fund is working with volunteers and businesses to find ways to cut costs so no one goes without this Christmas.

The Hamper Fund is grateful to those who have already donated this year, or have held events to raise funds. Anyone planning an event that will benefit the Hamper Fund should call the Gazette at 250-949-6225 and we will help get the word out.

Of course, donations of toys, food and cash are always accepted at the North Island Gazette office on Market Street in Port Hardy. Other places on the North Island are also collection centres for toys or food donations. The Chamber of Commerce/Visitor Info Centres in Port Hardy and Port McNeill will both accept donations. As will the CIBC in Port McNeill.

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