The Fredericton Greener Village Food Bank continued their annual Angel Tree program this year, aiming to provide holiday gifts to children of local families. The program traditionally supports around 1 000 kids each year.
People can visit the Greener Village Angel Tree at the Regent Mall and sign up to sponsor a child. Children in the program provide a wishlist and receive a $30 gift, a $50 gift, and $20 worth of stocking stuffers. People can choose to sponsor one gift, a combination, or all three.
A class of third-year UNB nursing students put together an online GoFundMe fundraiser for the program while working with Greener Village for a clinical placement. Their motivation was to provide an easier way for people to participate during the pandemic.
Nursing student Mikayla Benner explained that collecting donations and having the nursing students themselves buy the gifts made more sense with COVID-19 regulations.
Their GoFundMe closes at 11:59 p.m. November 30 in order to give the students time to buy all of the gifts. However, the Greener Village Angel Tree at the Regent Mall will be open until December 18.
“The GoFundMe has been working really, really well. We’ve had a lot of other students in our clinical support us, and other students in our classes support us,” said Brooke Ingraham, another nursing student working on the project.
So far, they have raised $1 030, exceeding their goal of $1 000. In addition to the Angel Tree program, the Greener Village Food Bank also does a Christmas Dinner program to support families over the holidays.