What’s New to Christmas Hamper 2024: More Inclusive, More Accessible

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News Release

Novemvber 7, 2024

As part of the new strategic direction of Smithers Community Services Association (SCSA), we’re excited to announce some important changes to our long-running Christmas Hamper Program. This year, we’re implementing two major updates to better serve our community and empower hamperrecipients.In response to feedback from our hamper recipients, we are making the program more inclusive.This year, we’re introducing a voucher system (grocery gift card) that gives individuals greater autonomy and choice in the food they receive, allowing for more personalized and flexible hamper selections.To further enhance accessibility, we are relaxing our eligibility criteria to allow individuals without apermanent address to apply. This change reflects our commitment to ensuring that no one is leftbehind, regardless of housing status, so there are no barriers to participation in this program.

The Christmas Hamper Program has been a cherished part of our community for decades, and weare deeply grateful for the ongoing support from sponsors that allows us to expand the number ofhampers we can provide. Last year, 87 of the 216 hampers were sponsored by generous community donors. This year, we are thrilled by the outpouring of support from past donors eager to sponsor even more hampers.As we kick off this year’s hamper program, we’ve already had several sponsors reach out to offertheir support, which is incredible and makes us feel that the community of Smithers truly owns the Christmas Hamper Program.

We are deeply grateful for the innovative ways our community supports this program and for the dedicated people behind it.We’d like to extend a special thank you to those who have already sent donations, as well as to thelocal organizations collecting toys and to Smithers Secondary School for hosting a food drive togather nutritious non-perishables for this year’s hampers. We are also thankful for the many volunteers who have stepped forward to help and for the local farmers contributing fresh, long-lasting produce.As we continue to grow, we’re excited to share our plans for rebranding and further revamping the program in the coming years. Our ultimate goal is to become even more inclusive and expand the program to offer a second hamper, with the vision of eventually making it a year-round program.The community of Smithers will be a part of this journey of this change as we invite you into thedecision-making process. Together, we can ensure everyone has access to food and support duringthe holiday season and beyond.

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"Your continued generosity and commitment to our communitytruly make a difference.We remain committed to making all our programs more inclusive and accessible—not only the Christmas Hamper Program but all other programs we offer. Our focus is on a client-centered approach,working with our community to shape services that meet everyone’s needs. We are grateful to have thecommunity as part of this exciting journey and invite your ongoing input as we work to make ourprograms even more accessible in the future."– Myung Lee, Executive Director

 

Media Contract:

Emily Baker, Christmas Hamper Program Coordinator: [email protected]

Myung Lee, Executive Director, [email protected]