Tree of Hope campaign ‘best ever’ in over 100 years

The annual Tree of Hope campaign run by the Family and Children’s Services of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington has reached a historic achievement after helping over 800 kids.

The 2018 campaign helped nearly 850 kids in total across the region with various donations including toys, clothing and more. Of the 850 kids, half of them were under the age of nine, including 50 infants, and a third were helped outside of Kingston, including 75 children from the Napanee area.

The campaign goal for this year was $40,000, however donations poured in last week to put the Tree of Hope campaign to just over $60,000, a historic record in the 100+ years Family and Children’s Services have been running the holiday campaign. The previous record was $50,000, which was raised last year.

Steve Woodman, Executive Director of Family and Children Services, said he was completely blown away with this year’s Tree of Hope.

“We asked for support for the kids we serve, and we got it,” he said. “This extra money is going to allow us to help these very same kids year-round. We’re going to set up a process to go back to see if we can do more to help these families in January. Any money leftover will go to help send kids to summer camp come July.”

The campaign had more then 400 donors, and was run by a team of 12 volunteers and staff. There is still time to help the cause by donating online until the end of January at www.HelpTreeofHope.ca.

Lucas Mulder is a member of the First Response Media team, and the youngest contributor on the Kingstonist team. At 17, his passion for journalism has lead him to becoming an active part of keeping Kingston informed and up to date, despite still completing his high school studies. You can follow Lucas on Twitter at @LucasM_News.