KCR Community Resources has exciting news to share about our amazing Sponsor a Family Program. Since 2006, we have brought Seasonal Joy and the Holiday Spirit to hundreds of families because of generous donors like you. Wish lists and food hampers were filled, ensuring families would be merry with gifts under the tree and food on the table during the holiday season. Thank you to all of the community donors that made this possible.

This year we sincerely hope that donors will share their giving spirit and make the Season Bright again for so many people. As an organization, we also recognize that our community is changing and we want to ensure that our programs change to continue to meet the most urgent and unique needs of the diverse populations we serve.  At this time, we are seeing increased need for life essentials throughout the year and recognize the community wants to address that need.  

This is why we are expanding the seasonal spirit of the Sponsor a Family program to a year-around Family Fund program that can meet the ongoing needs of our community. We are not replacing the Sponsor a Family program but offering a choice for how you can show your support. 

You can choose to Sponsor a Family for the Holidays, or make your gift one that gives throughout the year by contributing to the new Share Your Light Family Fund, which supports families (in all their variations) in need throughout the year. 

The traditions that make the Sponsor a Family program so meaningful will continue:

• Donors are matched with the size of family they choose
• They are given a wish list that identifies specific desires for each member of the family
• Donors purchase and wrap the items and bring them, along with food hamper gift cards to KCR for us to distribute to the families in December

This option allows donors to share the excitement of the season with their own family by fulfilling the hopes and wishes of another family. Donors will be able to get a tax receipt for contributions by submitting the receipts for the gifts.  

For those who would prefer to make a financial donation, we ask them to donate to the Share Your Light Family Fund. This simple option ensures that together we can meet the needs of families throughout the holiday season while building a fund that will meet urgent needs throughout the year. Contributions will get an immediate tax receipt and donors will be updated on the impact of the Family Fund throughout the coming year.

The Share Your Light Family Fund is unique because it is focused on providing choice and agency to those in need to offer life essentials throughout the year. Life Essential Hampers include gift cards to specific stores that meet the needs of the family and are provided to families throughout the year through their Case Managers. The funds are meant to meet their emergent needs for life essentials such as clothing, household items and celebrating meaningful celebrations.

What also makes the program unique is that we recognize that 鈥淔amily鈥� is how you define it. Family in all its definitions may include a senior parent and adult child, a multi-generational home, a single-parent home with aunties or uncles or another variation where humans gather to build family to support each other.

Thank you for your amazing support of community and families. We truly appreciate the community we live in and the commitment of its members to share their giving spirits throughout the year. For more information, check out or reach out to Sponsor a Family Coordinator Katrina (katrina@kcr.ca) or Community Engagement Coordinator Wendy (wendycg@kcr.ca).

Dorothee Birker is the communications & development manager for KCR Community Resources.