Maritime Business College and the Mi’Kmaq Native Friendship Centre are teaming up to help support families this holiday season.
MBC is sponsoring seven families as part of the Mi’Kmaq Native Friendship Centre’s Christmas Cheer Program.
It was created years ago when the centre’s employment officer Trish Gloade noticed a number of students in the city were alone during Christmas because they didn’t have the funds or opportunity to travel home to be with their family.
At the time, it was a hamper program where they would give groceries to the students.
Over the years, it has evolved to what it is now providing support to low-income Indigenous families in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Sponsors come forward, agree to purchase presents off a wish list provided by the family they are matched with and deliver them to the centre for distribution.
“It’s a good way of allowing some of those larger families and their kids to feel like a part of the Christmas spirit,” says Mi’Kmaq Native Friendship Centre Reaching Home Program Administrator Vivian McDonald. “They get gifts from Santa just like any other kid in their classroom.”
She adds with inflation skyrocketing people are trying to pay rent and buy groceries, but some are finding themselves unable to go above and beyond the call for Christmas. That makes community and corporate sponsorships more important.
“Without the sponsors there would be no Christmas Cheer Program,” says McDonald. “The actual gifts and experience of the program comes from the sponsors.”
MBC and the Mi’Kmaq Native Friendship Centre have collaborated before as students from the Counselling Skills/Social Human Services program will visit the centre as part of their curriculum. MBC is delighted to say a former instructor of the program is currently employed there and one of MBC’s recent graduates is also working there.
“The support of Maritime Business College and other local agencies makes all the difference in being able to provide our urban Indigenous families with a more special Christmas for their family,” says McDonald.
MBC Campus Administrator Monica Pellerin says the college’s involvement in the Christmas Cheer Program is about more than making a donation, it’s about contributing to the joy, hope, and community spirit that will make a difference to these families during the holiday season.
“We believe in giving back to our community,” adds Pellerin. “The Mi’Kmaq Native Friendship Centre does incredible work. Their dedication to helping their families through the Christmas Cheer Program is truly inspiring and we are happy to be a part of such an amazing program.”
