2017 holiday hampers

As usual, the Financial Aid department is organizing our annual adopt a family program, which asks departments to prepare holiday hampers for Langara College student families who are struggling financially (primary identified through bursary applications). Our families are often single parent families, or parents of children with disabilities.

New this year: if we have enough departments who are interested, I’d like to also offer hampers to our Youth In Care bursary students. These are students who either are currently in foster care, or who have recently aged out of foster care. Typically these students have no family at all, and have lived for many years either in group homes or by themselves in hotel rooms. The students who have aged out of foster care no longer have access to their social worker, which is the person who would have previously been their only support person. These students are often extremely low income. My goal is to let these students know that we care and support them, and provide them with food, personal and house hold items. Note: these students don’t have children, so the hamper provided would not be filled with toys, but rather would have the essentials that young folks need to get by on a day to day basis. These hampers might not be as much “fun” to put together, but I promise you they will be very much appreciated by the recipients!

Hampers for students with children are usually decorated boxes or plastic bins, filled with toys, books, and sometimes winter clothes. Hampers for youth in care students may include grocery store gift cards, bedding and linens, kitchen items, and winter clothes. We will provide you with individualized suggestions to assist you with the preparation of your hamper, based on the family you adopt.

If staff in your area, or you as an individual, wish to sponsor a hamper, please contact Melia Fernandez at mfernandez@langara.ca by Friday November 10th. You will receive family details in late-November and hampers need to be completed no later than Friday December 15th.

Other ways to get involved:

• Donate unwrapped toys, which can be added to a hamper
• Donate cash, which can be used to buy groceries that are added to a hamper
• Be a volunteer driver and drop off a hamper to a family who is unable to pick theirs up (we need lots of volunteer drivers!).