Teri Lancaster knew she had to do something.
When a local newspaper stopped printing, Lancaster wanted to preserve a program that has brought so much joy to hundreds of children up to age 18, who live in the Midland-Penetanguishene area.
So in conjunction with the local Salvation Army, Lancaster kicked off a renewed adopt-a-family program by reaching out to businesses and individuals who have contributed in the past.
She eventually found 150 sponsors, who will spend $125 to $150 on each child whose family is chosen for the program.
Lancaster started the original offering 17 years ago with about a dozen families while working at the Midland Mirror. The newspaper gave Lancaster the advertising space that sometimes amounted to two or three pages at no charge where she would outline families available for adoption and how many children they had.
“Last year, we had 225 families, basically adopted by businesses and John Q. Public,” Lancaster explains. “The families are all interviewed by the Salvation Army to qualify. They have to be in a certain financial bracket.”
Those brackets include single-income families and those who might be on the Ontario Disability Support Program.
“They can’t afford rent so they can’t afford Christmas,” she says, adding that adoptive families only want to help ensure children aren’t left without something to open on Christmas Eve or morning.
“Everything’s anonymous and we only ask that those giving don’t include clothing, electronics or really expensive things.”
For children, that means toys, dolls and other fun items. And since teens can be a little bit harder to buy for, the gifts can be in the form of gift cards.
The local Salvation Army conducts the interviews and gets wishlists of what the children might like. From there, Lancaster sends an email to donors with the information for the family they have adopted.
“We have two businesses that will take on a family of up to five kids every year,” Lancaster says, adding the donor family often makes the shopping for gifts a family affair.
“They do the shopping and can pick and choose from the wishlist. I find a lot of older people want to include their grandchildren or children in the gift of giving.”
In the coming days, donors will be dropping off the gifts at the Salvation Army or with Lancaster. From there, recipient families will drop by the Salvation Army’s Midland location to pick up their gifts along with a gift card to a grocery store.
“We check to make sure all the gifts are new and appropriate,” Lancaster says.
But beyond the 150 families chosen for the adoption program, the Salvation Army is also collecting toys for other families.
“The Salvation Army won’t have any children go without a Christmas present," Lancaster says. "We have a generous area and I’m proud to be part of the area.”
Salvation Army Midland family services coordinator Kim Duquette and her team conduct interviews to select the families.
“We sponsored out 150 families, but we also received other requests," Duquette says. "We’re sitting at about (additional) 170 families now that have applied for assistance.”
Once all the gifts and donations are received, volunteers and staff set up what looks like a toy store in the basement of Salvation Army's location on Dominion Avenue.
Duquette says Lancaster deserves a great deal of credit for her ongoing and longtime commitment to the program.
“She’s amazing with the amount of work and organizing she does,” Duquette says. “She has a passion for it.”
