A surprised group of single parents and their kids will sit down to dinner Christmas Day in Saanich thanks to an anonymous contest winner paying it forward.
Sheana Jackson planned to skip Christmas dinner.
A single mom on disability who works part-time from home, she already stretches the budget routinely.
Turkey dinner just wasn’t in the cards for 2023.
Then fate threw a newspaper contest and a little philanthropy her way.
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The Oak Bay News partnered with Slaters Meats and the Old Farm Market to run a holiday contest with the grand prize of a full holiday dinner.
The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, asked the community paper to pay it forward and Jackson got an unexpected call.
“I cried. I literally cried,” Jackson said.
“Thank you. I don’t know what else to say. I wasn’t planning on doing a dinner mainly because I didn’t have the cash to do it.”
Jackson is far from alone. Greater Victoria charities reported a significant spike in need well ahead of winter, with food security a particular challenge.
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Nationally, food bank visits were at an unprecedented level, according to Hunger Count 2023, a Food Banks Canada annual report. According to the count, in March there were more than 1.9 million visits to food banks across the nation, up 32 per cent over record-setting 2022. B.C. recorded 195,925 visits, up 20 per cent over last year and up 57 per cent since 2019.
Paying it forward is a habit Jackson’s familiar with. Living in a building with others on fixed incomes, it’s a team sport supporting each other.
“This world just needs more kind people and people who are helping each other. That’s what I do in my building,” she said.
So come Christmas Day, she plans to have a feast with friends.
“I’ve got a few friends who are single moms as well, so they’ll come over with their kids too and we’ll have a big dinner together,” she said. “And if there’s something in this meal that I can’t use, I will pay it forward to someone else.”
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