St Vincent de Paul serves daily meals to those in need at its drop-in centre on 2nd Avenue  250News photo

Prince George, BC –  While poverty is a year-round challenge, the St. Vincent de Paul Society receives the lion's share of its food donations over the months of November and December.

And the society's Volunteer President, Bernie Goold, says it is this overwhelming generosity from city residents that allows St Vincent de Paul to do the good work that it does.

"We get about 80-percent of all our food donations and monetary donations in the two month period."  Goold says there were a couple of big food drives this past weekend, and another round planned for this coming weekend.  "I can't emphasize it enough, we really are dependent on the generosity of others and we are humbled by the outpouring we get – we open our doors 365 days of the year to serve food and serve many families with hampers over Christmas and through the lean months of January, February and March."

"And that's due to the generosity of the people of Prince George, so they really need to be commended for the support that they give."

Approximately 250 hampers stocked with one week's supply of groceries, a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and gifts for everyone in the home will be sorted and wrapped up next weekend.  Goold says there is a need for gifts for teens and for boys aged 9 to 12, for those planning to drop off donations at the society's drop-in centre.  She says approximately 150 hampers will go out in each of the next three months.

Goold says the need this year is comparable to others, but the 'faces' of those requiring some help have changed a lot.  "We see a lot more seniors on a monthly basis at our drop-in centre," she says.  It's a demographic that has typically been too proud to ask for help, which points to an increasing struggle to make ends meet, given the rising cost of essentials.  "Thank goodness the Council of Seniors has really facilitated hampers to meet that extra demand at this time of year, and it's a real blessing to us."

"Working poor (too)," says the Volunteer President.  "It's very hard for people to admit that they can't provide the basic essentials to make Christmas a little brighter – their paycheque doesn't go that far – so, again, because of the generosity of others in this city, we're privileged to offer that help to those people."

The society also hosts a full turkey dinner on Christmas day for anyone alone or in need at Sacred Heart's auditorium.  While there are lots of volunteers lined up to help with the dinner, Goold is asking anyone with a 'strong back and truck' able to help with transporting 600 boxes of food to the auditorium on December 19th, between 1pm and 3pm, to call the drop-in centre at 250 564-7871.