This holiday season, residents of metro Moncton have a new option to help those in need.
Created by Harvest House Atlantic, the Gifts for Hope Catalogue is a new way to give locally to women and men who are in need of emergency shelter, unable to afford housing, lacking employment, or struggling to overcome addiction.
In past years, the non-profit has seen a lot of support for the community through the holiday season and now giving can be even easier.
“We’ve put together eight different options people can give to, to support different areas of the organization,” says Marc Belliveau, executive director of Harvest House Atlantic.
The options can be as simple as providing the basic necessities such as a healthy meal or a warm bed for a night.
In traditional holiday fashion, donations can even go towards a Christmas gift for someone in the shelter, or in some cases, their children.
Belliveau encourages those interested in the program to have fun with it.
“It can be done as an individual, it can be done as a group, as a church, as an organization, a business, working together to try and raise funds to really help those in need on the front line,” says Belliveau.
He recognizes that many people in the community look at homelessness as a difficult issue to help with, and by creating the Gifts for Hope Catalogue, anyone who asks themselves “What can I do?” will have a new way to contribute.
According to Belliveau, donations made over the holiday season tend to have a much larger impact than most people believe.
“December is a very fruitful month, but January, February, March is an organization struggle after the holidays. So, the funds that come in now not only help during the holiday season, but they’ll help after the holidays as well.”
