The 2024 Quinte West Adopt-A-Child program has wrapped up a huge season, providing over 600 families with donated Christmas gifts for their children.
This year was one of the program’s busiest years ever. With registration opened early and a last second blitz, over 600 families signed up for help. Even with growing demand, the program was able to gather enough donations to provide for every family that asked for help.
One of the program volunteers, Lisa Triemstra, said that the donations mean a lot for the families receiving them. She had personally delivered donations to a grandmother whose husband had been laid off and her daughter was ill.
“She stood in the kitchen with tears running down her face, and said ‘I was either going to not be able to pay my rent or not be able to do Christmas,'” said Triemstra. “It’s stories like these that just make you feel so good to know that you’re helping somebody out.”
While the need for help this year was great, Triemstra also said that many families that had received gifts from them in the past had come back to donate, now that they were in a position to help out.
