charity begins at home: lower mainland christmas bureau
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | December 8, 2010
In our next installment of Canadian charities that benefit kids (and families), we thought it was particularly apt to give a little shout out to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.
The Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau has been in operation for over 80 years, providing assistance to families in need during the holiday season. It serves as a centralized, year round toy warehouse for toys to be gathered and shipped to the twelve local Christmas Bureaus that service the Lower Mainland. They host a number of fundraising events throughout the year and are primary beneficiaries of such high profile events as the Province’s Empty Stocking Fund and the Pan Pacific’s Annual Christmas Wish Breakfast. The funds raised and the toys collected are used to help provide a little bit of holiday cheer to tens of thousands of families throughout the Lower Mainland.
The concept of the Christmas Bureau is not unique to the Lower Mainland. At this time of year, Christmas Bureaus across the country help low income families celebrate the holiday season through Christmas Hamper and Adopt-A-Family programs. December is a tough time to be without and these community based bureaus do whatever they can to make sure people who need it feel a little extra special over the holiday season, no matter their faith or belief. They rely on volunteers and donations from local residents and businesses to make their programs work. Individuals and organizations can also sponsor families in addition to making monetary and gift donations.
We are thrilled to be able to share a little holiday joy with the Christmas Bureau this year through our soon to be annual Stocking contests.
We think that this time of year provides so many great opportunities to give back to the communities in which we live. Sponsoring a family, or donating an unwrapped toy or two to the local Christmas Bureau or empty stocking fund gives us the chance to spread a little bit of joy, peace and love.
To find out how you can become involved in your community, check out:
Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau: www.lmcb.ca
Toronto Christmas Bureau: http://www.toronto.ca/socialservices/christmas.htm
If you have a favourite charity that you would love to see profiled, please let us know and if you have any personal stories of how a Christmas Bureau has helped you or someone you know we’d love it if you’d share them using the comment functionality at the bottom of this article on the yoyomama site.
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