Three employees from BMO Nesbitt Burns have decided to invest in making Christmas better for local families.
Investment advisors Karen O’Coin, Scott Walker, and Krista Hann recently donated $3,000 to the Sharing Place to help the food bank purchase turkeys for its annual holiday hampers.
“As a team, I think it’s important to support local charities,” Walker told OrilliaMatters. “I think now more than ever, inflation is hurting a lot of families, so we feel it's important to give back when we can.”
O’Coin said the trio wanted to help families experience a traditional Christmas dinner, and make sure the Sharing Place could put together its holiday hampers.
“The cost of food inflation and turkeys, I was sitting home thinking – are they even going to be able to afford turkeys because of the cost of them?” she said. “We would just like to wish everybody a healthy, happy holiday season.”
Chris Peacock, the executive director of the Dufferin Street food bank, said Christmas turkeys are the most expensive part of the annual holiday hamper program.
This year, the Sharing Place is assembling 500 hampers with all the ingredients for a holiday feast and breakfast.
“We still run our food bank program, and then on top of that we distribute 500 holiday hampers, and the most expensive part of that hamper is the turkey or the ham,” Peacock told OrilliaMatters. “Having a partner like BMO Nesbitt Burns to be able to help us … ensure that we're able to provide our members a nice holiday feast is exceptional.”
With the cost of living soaring and the holidays approaching, Peacock said he hopes the Sharing Place’s support can help make the holiday season easier for community members in need.
“The support that we can provide through the holiday season hopefully provides a little bit of a break,” he said.
“If it's presents, if it's travelling to friends and families, the holidays are a very special time for many of us, but a very stressful and sad time for others because they don't have the financial means to be able to pay for the things a lot of us take for granted," said Peacock.
“Big thanks to BMO Nesbitt Burns for making sure that we're able to support the individuals that just really need help right now.”