Angel Tree campaign sees huge success

The final numbers have been tallied for the Lethbridge Family Services Angel Tree campaign. 3,274 children were able to receive gift bundles. Donors also gave generously to the campaign, bringing in a total of over $190,000. The Adopt-A-Family program also helped 101 families. Michelle Gallucci, with Angel Tree, says she was in shock of the generosity of Lethbridge and southern Alberta residents.

“The numbers took our breath away. We did not expect this kind of need. There was a huge need in the community this year. I think it’s partly mental health needs, and partly emotional. Covid has definitely played a role with the needs in the community. We were so happy to be able to help everyone. This community stepped up when we needed help to do the gift bundles. Because when we were down to the last 800 children we had zero gifts in our shelves. We were able all the way up to December 24th to deliver gifts to our families.”

Over 6,000 gifts were collected and there were 278 volunteers that helped make Angel Tree a success.

The Christmas Hope campaign has also finalized their numbers. The program is a collaboration between various groups including the Interfaith Food Bank, Shop of Wonders, Salvation Army, Lethbridge Food Bank, Volunteer Lethbridge, and Angel Tree. The program helped assist an enormous amount of children in our community. This includes over 5,000 kids and close to 2,500 adults this year. For a total of over 7,500 individuals. This is an increase of 1,764 kids who were previously helped. Over 1,000 volunteers put in over 4,500 hours during the month of December to make the campaign happen.