Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Light falling snow outside Napanee’s Family and Children’s Services Frontenac, Lennox Addington (FACSFLA) building was the perfect backdrop as the agency officially launched its annual Tree of Hope Campaign.
After a short round of speeches indoors, the crowd moved to the building’s front lawn, where young Nolan Manley was selected to do the honours of flipping on the lights to illuminate an evergreen.
Thursday’s gathering marked the official launch of their annual appeal, which dates back over 100 years. FACSFLA is once again calling on the public to reach out and sponsor a child or family or to donate money to their campaign, with the goal of helping 900 people in the region.
“The ones we serve, they have all sorts of needs,” explains John Suart, manager of community relations for FACSFLA. “People think it’s just a toy drive, and it is because we do a lot of toys, but the Tree of Hope is special because we do everything else. We do baby cribs, we do clothing, we do bedding, you name it, we do it.”
To help launch this year’s appeal, Hastings Lennox Addington MP Mike Bossio attended the tree lighting and delivered a bag of toys.
While they strive to provide something for kids in the area to open for the holidays, they also assist a lot of teens and adults too in the form of gift cards.
“We do a lot of gift cards and for that to work we need cash,” said Suart.
Anyone looking to help this year’s campaign can visit www.HelpTreeofHope.ca.
Dating back to just after the agency was formed in 1894, the Tree of Hope has since become the oldest campaign of its kind in Southeastern Ontario. Last year’s Tree of Hope was the most successful to date, assisting over 850 people, 100 of which were in Greater Napanee.