The challenges are enormous for the Society of Saint-Vincent de Paul, which has seen requests for Christmas baskets explode when the organization already expects to raise $225,000 less than last year.
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“The goal is $500,000 this year, and last year we raised $725,000. We lowered the objective to take reality into account,” explains Jean-Luc Lavoie, president of the Society of Saint-Vincent de Paul in Quebec, who refers to the rise in the cost of living.
“We have requests for 12,000 Christmas baskets; during the pandemic it was 10,000 baskets,” he continues.
Far from being discouraged, Mr. Lavoie is counting on dozens of volunteers who are hard at work this weekend at the Campanile and Quatre-Bourgeois IGAs as well as at Metro Ferland.
A total of 4,800 volunteers collect donations for the organization’s 161st Guignolée, which takes place at 61 collection points until December 31. The baskets will be distributed from mid-December.
A timely check
Photo Louis Deschenes
Geneviève Guilbault, Deputy Premier and MNA for Louis-Hébert, and Alexia Lévesque-Côté, a young volunteer, collected donations on Saturday in a grocery store in Sainte-Foy.
The MNA for Louis-Hébert, Geneviève Guilbault, came to support the volunteers in her riding on Saturday at the Coop IGA in Sainte-Foy.
The Deputy Premier notes that the needs are even higher this year, given the inflation that is hitting hard not only the poorest, but also average families.
Ms. Guilbault believes that the check for $400 or $600 that will be paid to citizens who earn less than $100,000 is timely. “Everyone is going to have their check for Christmas, it was very important for us […]. The Christmas meal will cost a little more than the year before, so this check will help people and it was also the idea of giving people cash, ”said the MP.