Skip to content

This South Delta campaign puts hope in every bag

Volunteers helped pack a little hope into gift bags to make the holidays a bit brighter for women in need.
volunteers
Volunteers helped pack more than 1,000 gift bags earlier this month at the Ladner Community Centre in support of the ninth annual Women Helping Women South Delta campaign.

Volunteers helped pack a little hope into gift bags to make the holidays a bit brighter for women in need.

The ninth annual Women Helping Women South Delta campaign was a huge success this year as a record-breaking 1,047 gift bags were made and boxes of product were sent to facilities to use during the year.

“It was amazing. We were able to fulfill all our requests,” said campaign organizer Pindi Mann. “We were very worried mid-November. Donations were down a bit, but I think people were hanging onto things. The Optimist support with your story really helped us out and we did a major social media blitz every day. In the last two days we had to make several collections at our donation stops, so it’s just been amazing.”

Mann said some gift bags included PJs and self-care items like soap, shampoo, make up and feminine hygiene products, while others had more pampering items. They also created care kits people can take to the Downtown Eastside as well as 50 bags for Deltassist to give to families with teenagers.

“Lush gave us 7,000 pieces of product, so every single bag will get a handful of Lush product,” she said. “We’ve had so many people sponsor an entire shelter.”
On Monday, Dec. 3, more than 50 volunteers spent the whole day packing the bags at the Ladner Community Centre.

“You never want to take on requests and not be able to fulfill them,” Mann said.

She said a beautiful note from a previous recipient the group received on Facebook the day before putting the bags together spurred them on and reinforced the worth of the campaign.

Mann said they provided gift bags to 30 facilities or programs throughout Greater Vancouver, including Azure, Delta’s only transition house.

Some of the recipients were in South Delta - women who may have had a difficult year for a variety of reasons – while others were at shelters, recovery homes or receive services from outreach programs.

“Each year the need grows,” Mann said. “The facilities have come to rely on us to help them during the Christmas season.”