Kids in shelters around Manitoba including Nova House to get a little treat this Easter
Local Discovery Toys Play Advisors are teaming up for the 11th year to bring Easter baskets to kids staying at Ronald McDonald House Charities Manitoba, Villa Rosa Inc., Dignity House Inc. and the province’s ten women’s shelters which includes Nova House, the local domestic violence shelter in Selkirk. To keep up with the demand for baskets, they are hoping that residents in our community with a little extra to give will donate to help kids who don’t have much get a little treat this spring.
“This year we’re expecting to do about 325 baskets. We’ve been getting numbers from the shelters, and several of them are up this year, which is sad, but we do hope to bring some cheer and blessings to these kids in the next couple of weeks. So, we want to try to help as many children as we can,” said Tanya Pilat, Discovery Toys Play Advisor.
The project started through Discovery Toys and the representatives from the company continue to keep it going in our communities. The Manitoba initiative specifically started with representatives wanting to help out the ten women’s shelters in the province and over the years they’ve expanded to also give to other organizations.
“Once we started to fill that need, and the fundraising exceeded the need for the shelters, we started to include other charities. So, it’s been great that we’ve been able to increase the number of charities that we support through this initiative,” explained Pilat.
Some of the items in the baskets are an educational toy, a book, sweet treats, toiletries like toothbrushes and lip balm, colouring books and crayons, bubble wands and other age-appropriate items for the younger and older recipients.
Residents will probably realize that this is a bit of an unusual time to host a basket drive as most take place around the winter holiday season but this is exactly why they are fundraising right now.
“We felt that there’s always a need throughout the year. Children that are in these shelters or in a hospital or in one of these locations, they’re often thought of at Christmas. But, there are other times of the year that children get to celebrate and receive special gifts at home. And so, if they’re not at home or their families don’t have the funds or the resources to provide that, whether they’re in a hospital or a shelter, we want to be able to allow children to be kids at this time of year too,” said Pilat.
She continued, “My children get to do Easter egg hunts and get the gifts and stuff through the Easter and spring season. These kids might not and we want them to still experience the joy of receiving an Easter basket, getting that chocolate bunny, and having some special gifts.”
The plan is to give every child from infants to teenagers a basket so that they can experience that joy.
Baskets can be sponsored for $30 each. Individuals or businesses who contribute will receive special recognition in a public thank you and donations valued at $100 or more will have their name/logo posted online.
They are also accepting donations of toiletries, treats, or other items that would fit the bill. Pilat encourages residents to reach out to find out if their donation is something that they are looking for.
Ideally, all donations will be collected by April 11.
Financial donations are accepted via e-transfer at tanyapilat@yahoo.com and residents are asked to please add ‘Easter Basket’ in the note area as well as your email address so Pilat can send you a thank you. For other donations or methods of payment, please contact Pilat directly at tanyapilat@yahoo.com.
Pilat encourages residents who can to donate to making kids’s lives a little more joyous this season.
“We just want to make sure that no child is left out this Easter, and the more donations and sponsorship that we get, the more kids we can help. We’re definitely wanting to make sure that nobody in our current shelters and locations is left out, and if we do end up with a surplus, we definitely search out other children that we can reach out to. As well, every shelter also needs some backups in case they have emergency intake. So, we do provide each of them with additional baskets in case they have someone who wasn’t accounted for in the original donation. So (donating) just helps us to reach as many kids as possible,” she said.
