The Victoria Mustard Seed continued its holiday events with its annual Christmas Hamper Day on Sunday, Dec. 22.
“The annual Christmas Hamper Day is one of the most impactful events of the year for The Mustard Seed,” said Claudia Rezende, volunteer and events manager. “It’s a chance to bring the community together, ensuring that no family feels forgotten during the holiday season.”
Hamper Day welcomed 300 families and about 500 children, who received holiday hampers from the Mustard Seed. Families packed into the Quadra Village Community Gym, lining up to choose a grocery store gift card and pick toys for their children.
The event was the culmination of a week of hamper distributions. The charity delivered a total of 900 hampers including toys, clothes, food and gift cards to help ease families in need through a costly holiday season.
“I can definitely say it was successful. It was great to see all the families leaving with joy,” said Rezende. “I felt the relief from them not having to worry about toys and having a gift for their kids. It’s always nice.”
This year’s Hamper Day proved to be one of the best yet. Hosted at the Quadra Village Community Gym, the larger space allowed more families to participate and more volunteers to help. It also enabled the non-profit to distribute more packages in less time compared to its usual space on Queens Avenue.
“It’s a bigger space, and I think it went well. Families were happy, and there wasn’t a very long wait line,” said Rezende.
The extra space was especially important as The Mustard Seed strives to meet a growing need for support among families during the holidays.
“Families were pre-registered for this event, and the registrations were quick. In less than a month, we filled 1,200 spots, and that just shows that the needs, unfortunately, are higher than that,” said Rezende.
Despite the high demand, the event was a success. It distributed 1,200 hampers and brought together 130 volunteers. Hamper Day capped off a successful holiday campaign, which also included a dinner for 600 people at the Bay Street Armoury and ongoing gift wrapping by donation.
