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Demand skyrockets for Santa’s Anonymous

There were so many applications for the Santa’s Anonymous program in December that Family and Community Support Services, the organization which operates it, had to dip into reserves to make up a $5,000 shortfall.
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Santa’s Anonymous helped 163 families in December, a dramatic increase from 109 in 2017. The FCSS-run program had to withdraw $5,000 from reserves to meet demand.

There were so many applications for the Santa’s Anonymous program in December that Family and Community Support Services, the organization which operates it, had to dip into reserves to make up a $5,000 shortfall.

Community services director Mike Butler reported the shortfall to Town of Westlock councillors at their Jan. 14 meeting, but otherwise said the program was a success.

“Santa’s Anonymous was very successful once again. Kudos to the volunteers who helped put it on, they did a very good job,” said Butler.

“There was actually a double whammy there because there was a higher need, but less donations as well. It kind of reflects where we are at as an economy. We had to dig into our reserves for about $5,000 to make up for the shortfall.”

The program, which lent a helping hand to 448 people in 2018, managed to collect $13,515, but spent $18,425.

Applications from families increased dramatically from 109 in 2017 to 163 in 2018. There were also more large families than usual this time around.

The impact of the increase in demand was minimal this year, said FCSS program coordinator Maureen Schiller, but it could affect the program going forward.

She plans on spreading the word much earlier next year to raise more donations and avoid a similar situation.

Meanwhile the Adopt-a-Family program, which runs alongside Santa’s Anonymous, saw 29 families adopted by 20 sponsors.

Coun. Murtaza Jamaly is on the FCSS advisory board and recommended councillors stop by FCSS next year when Santa’s Anonymous is in full swing.

“We saw a huge increase in the need for Santa’s Anonymous this year and we were tight,” he said.

“Our advisory board had to make a decision to whether or not to reduce the contribution to each family, or pull from reserves and we pulled from reserves because we didn’t want to see a reduction to each family. We felt the need was greater, but obviously that’s not sustainable long-term.”

Mayor Ralph Leriger commented that he was seeing media reports of similar situations in communities across the region.

Another program operated by FCSS is Coats for Kids, which runs throughout the winter. So far this winter 41 kids’ coats have been donated and 36 given out.

However, the program is in dire need of snow pants for kids and coats for adults as well.

“We really appreciate the donations we get from the community and the volunteers that help us with the program” said Schiller.

“Without the volunteers and the donations the program wouldn’t be a success.”

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