A KEY INGREDIENT Christmas Goodwill the result of community effort
Longtime WCS volunteers delight in preparing hampers that will make the season bright for those in need
NOT NECESSARILY SANTA’S ELVES, but perhaps equally busy at this time of year, some 200 volunteers who make possible the Christmas Goodwill Program at Woolwich Community Services could very well be mistaken for them.
The program makes sure families in need are able to truly have a happy holiday, providing them with gifts under the tree and food in their cupboards. WCS chalks that up to the community’s generosity.
Each year dedicated volunteers shop, wrap and pack Christmas hampers for low-income families in Woolwich Township and into the north part of Wellesley Township, using donations of food, new toys and clothing. This ensures the holidays can be celebrated by all families.
Donations and handson volunteers come from all over the townships, even extending to support coming from outside. Tina Reed, WCS’s coordinator of community support, notes donations come from many sources: businesses, service clubs, churches, schools, individuals, sports clubs, teams and families.
“It is a very large list of people who make this happen and we are so appreciative of all they do,” said Reed. “There is enough for all of these families to get some food for the holidays, a turkey or a ham, and for the whole family to open up some gifts.”
Among those hands
on volunteers are Linda McNabb and Phyliss Dosman.
McNabb has been involved for 27 years and Dosman right by her side for the last six.
“This is just something that I like to do, I look forward to this day very much. The closer it gets, the more excited I get,” said McNabb. “I can’t tell you why I started, it was just something that caught my interest. I used to take a day off work to come and volunteer. I enjoy it, I like helping people and this is fun. To me, this isn’t work here today.”
While there are many hands-on roles with the program, the two spend their day ‘shopping’ through donations to make sure that each box, each wish list is full and complete ahead of the wrappers.
“We shop in all of the stations here,” said McNabb.
“We shop in the clothing store, in the toy store,” said Dosman, pointing around the hall to the sorted clothing closet and overflowing toy tables.
“And pick up everything that needs to be on the list that they want so then Christmas morning, ‘Wow!’,” said McNabb.
“And we make sure that mom and dad get something too so that nobody is left out,” added Dosman.
The pair have been volunteering at the program for so long they have seen the ins and outs, the happy families, the kind donors, the overwhelming com- munity support – it makes it all worthwhile to donate their time to help make it possible.
“It is when you think of a kid who might not have anything to open on Christmas morning, it’s bad,” McNabb said. “There is a lot of work that goes into it – the community is really good for donating and helping out.”
Reed echoes that, noting it’s the community support from all places that really makes this program possible.
“If not for the vast number of community-minded people there wouldn’t be enough gifts, money, or manpower to pull off this amazing program. Every single toy, every single dollar, and every single minute donated helps give Christmas to families in our area that are struggling,” said Reed. “We are a close community that cares about our members and strongly values helping others. Families are showing their kids how to donate and volunteer, passing on these wonderful values to the next generation.”
This year almost 160 families will be supported through the WCS Christmas Goodwill program.