Need for Christmas hampers doubles at Cornwall Lions Club

The Cornwall Lions Club handed out twice as many Christmas hampers this year than last year, as a difficult year for many Island families comes to an end.

That need is being seen elsewhere on P.E.I. too. The Upper Room Hospitality Ministry in Charlottetown had 515 families register for a hamper this year, more than 100 more than in 2019.

You can tell itmakes a big difference for these families, for sure. Mike Sirois

At the Lions Club in Cornwall, volunteers handed out hampers to 41 families on Tuesday, filled with turkeys and food from Island food banks.

"You can tell the look on the face how appreciative they are that, you know, things like this really make a tremendous difference for these people," said Mike Sirois, one of the volunteers.

"Big smiles and and just wishing us Merry Christmas and thank you," another volunteer, Don Bell, said of the reaction from families.

"And there wasn't one that, you know, wasn't really appreciative of it," Bell said.

Long-time volunteer

Bell has been volunteering with the Lions Club for 40 years, and in the past was a district governor at the club.

"My whole life has been involved in volunteering and as long as I can keep going, I'll be going," he said.

Volunteering time to a worthy cause is also important to Sirois.

"It's always great to get out in the community and help in any way I can, but especially around Christmastime," he said.

The Winsloe Lions Club also handed out 80 Christmas hampers earlier this week.

You can donate to Island food banks until December 31st through CBC's Feed a Family campaign.Feed a Family has so far raised more than $70,000 and 2,600 turkeys for food banks around P.E.I.

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