Record demand forces Christmas Cheer Board of Winnipeg to stop hamper applications early

The Christmas Cheer Board of Winnipeg will stop taking hamper applications effective immediately due to a record number of applications this season. 

The board had reached 20,500 hamper applications by Wednesday afternoon, an increase of almost 2,000 over last year, executive director Shawna Bell said in a news release. Call centres had been scheduled to remain open through Dec. 24, but will now close four days earlier than planned, according to the release. 

"Once we hit the 20,000 mark, we were well beyond anything that we can actually deliver on, so we're going to work hard to ensure that the hampers that we've committed to will be ready for folks who have already applied for them," said Bell in a phone interview with CBC News. "Beyond that we just simply don't have the capacity to support any other families unfortunately."  

Bell said in the release it's "absolutely devastating that there are so many families across the city in need this season."

She also said in the Cheer Board's more than 100-year operational history, this is the first year it hasn't been able to take hamper applications up until Dec. 23. 

The release also said phone lines for hamper applications opened early this year, as the board realized "how difficult the increased cost of living has made day-to-day life for so many." 

Board chair Jim Ketcheson says in the release that earlier in the month, the organization placed more orders for food in the hopes it might be enough to get through the season.

However, Ketcheson says in the release, it's finally come to a point where their budget can't meet the demand. The organization is funded exclusively by donations from citizens and organizations in Winnipeg. 

A "top up" of supplies has been done in previous years, but this year, even that wasn't enough, the release says. 

Bell also said the biggest issue right now is logistics, and even if all the food came in, the organization doesn't have the capacity to pack all of it. However, she said the Cheer Board is looking at giving gift cards as an option where possible, and all the food that's coming in is being sorted into the hampers too. 

"They're not full complete hampers that are going out in the later part of this week. We're working with what we have to support folks the best we can."

The warehouse will remain open through Dec. 24 for deliveries and pickups of hamper applications that have already been placed, the release said. 

Projections over the years have "almost always hit the mark, but this Christmas season has been like no other," the release says.

Bell called it "heartbreaking" to have to close hamper applications early this year, adding the requests have been "coming in like nothing we've ever seen."

"Our folks put their heart and soul into making this organization what it is year-over-year, and not a single person in this building wants to turn anyone away," said Bell. "We're trying so very hard.… It's breaking our hearts to get to this place.

"No one wants to disappoint someone at this time of year."