EMAIL AND DATES:
This year’s direct deposit email is: 2023toyfund@gmail.com. The fundraiser runs from November 1, 2023 – December 4, 2023.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
A $30 deposit by e transfer to 2023toyfund@gmail.com gets an Indigenous child in care an age-appropriate Christmas gift. All funds go directly to purchasing, wrapping and delivering the toys for kids and gift cards for teens. Helps Law matches up to 100 gifts!
INFORMATION:
Thank you all for your participation in the past in the CBABC Aboriginal Lawyer’s Forum/Helps Law Corporation Christmas Toy Drive! I am immensely proud of, and grateful for, my astonishing community.
I am so excited to announce that once again this year, I am asking for a $30 donation from individuals and organizations to buy a toy for an Indigenous child in care through the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society. This is the fourth year we’ve done this drive and every year, it is the highlight of my Christmas season.
This year, I’m reaching out directly to you because much of our campaigning used to be done on social media, most notably twitter (now ‘X’). Unfortunately, despite more need than ever, social media engagement is at its lowest point since I started using the medium. I would be appreciative if you would pass on this information to your friends, family, colleagues and anyone who might be so moved to contribute.
The world right now is very dark. People feel insignificant in the face of conflicts, slaughter, and war. I remember being very much in that same place in 2017 when Isabel Jackson, KC, then the head of ALF, spoke at a Canadian Bar Association BC Branch. When she said there were children in our community going without for Christmas, I felt better because I knew there was something I could do – you can’t do something about everything, but, as my best friend always says, you can do what is within your reach. Children not getting Christmas gifts in our community? We can do something about that!
Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services (VACFSS) is an Indigenous led organization that ensures the well-being of Indigenous children and youth who have come into a continuing care order. They are the sole provider of MCFD services to the Indigenous community in Vancouver. Their work is crucial to reducing the numbers of Indigenous youth in care through a commitment of developing child specific lifelong plans with an emphasis on returning to family, extended family and community and secondly to ensuring that those children that are leaving the system are doing so with a strong Indigenous identity and a leadership vision of their future.
The toys supplied go straight to VACFSS on December 10 this year, and each of the children or teens under their ambit will receive a gift, as will the families for food luxury. I am so proud to support VACFSS, and we work hand in hand with them to ensure we are meeting their needs.
Our toy sponsor, Granville Island Toy Company, has joined us again! Joanna, Tanyth and their team select the toys based on age group and popularity (they never give us their dead stock; last year, Barbies and Lego and Playmobil were all included!), give us a 10% discount and wrap and deliver the toys for us in time for the VACFSS banquet and distribution. They are our secret weapon and we’d be hard pressed to do it all without them. Granville Island Toy Company is a small, woman-owned local business so every penny we give them also comes back into our community. I encourage you to patronize them (I bought all my nephews toys from them last year!) as they are, truly, a beacon in our community.
Last year, we raised $11,200, which paid for more than 200 toys, 50 HappyTeen gift cards of $50 each, 50 President’s Choice gift cards at $50 each for food luxury for the families and 30 Walmart gift cards of $50 each for special needs families who had household need. A small leftover amount was donated to the Native Education Centre.
Helps Law collects the funds, deposits them into a separate account and then distributes the funds based on the direct feedback from VACFSS about their need. We keep accountable by posting tallies and receipts on twitter, facebook and sending those accountings to VACFSS and ALF. We do not give charitable receipts, but I can certainly send you an email acknowledging your donation should you need it, and Helps Law derives no benefit or taxation status from doing this fundraiser – we just cover the costs and match up to 100 gifts.
Please do not hesitate to contact me for any information. You guys! It’s the most wonderful time of the year – let’s make sure everyone in need can say the same to their kids. Please pass this email on!!!
With love and gratitude,
Lisa
HELPS LAW CORPORATION
