By Taylor Renkema
Quinte Broadcasting’s annual Adopt-A-Child drive is collecting cash and indoor clothing donations again this year for children in need at Christmas.
The drive works in collaboration with the Kinsmen Toy Drive and Salvation Army to help single and low-income families celebrate Christmas.
Matt Goodman, co-ordinator of the program, said Quinte Broadcasting has been involved in the program for 23 years. He said they participate to give a little something back to the community.
“Most people spend about $100-125 and that’s a great donation, because that’s on average what it would cost to sponsor a child,” said Goodman. “That usually gets them [the kids] a few indoor outfits, socks, pajamas and underwear, items like that.”
He said the Salvation Army gives food baskets, and the Kinsmen Club gives toys. Goodman said some people donate cash to the indoor clothing fundraiser, but there are others who prefer to do their own shopping.
“We get about half and half, people that want to shop do the shopping, and we give them a child’s first name and sizes, and they bring the stuff here. The other half will donate cash, and we will do the shopping. We have a team of about 12 shoppers this year that do [the shopping] for the program,” he said.
Goodman said kids’ styles are always changing, and they try to keep up with the latest trends.
He said they join together with the Salvation Army and Kinsmen Club to help families celebrate Christmas.
“They get a food basket through the Salvation Army, and they also get toys through the Kinsmen toy drive and our part of it is indoor clothing,” Goodman said.
There are about 1,300 kids in need this year. Goodman said they still have about 200 left to cover. He said it’s difficult to know exactly how many kids they help until the end, when they tally everything up.
Quinte Broadcasting is trying to wrap the program up by Dec. 16, to give them time to get everything organized.
“That gives us a few days before Christmas to tidy things up and make sure we’ve got everyone taken care of,” he said.
This year, Goodman said Quinte Broadcasting is able to provide tax receipts to those who make donations.
“We’re getting a lot more people helping out knowing that they’re going to get something back at tax time, so if they do make a donation we can give the information to the Salvation Army and they will issue a tax receipt,” he said.