“It’s officially now open,” said Gilles Fournier, executive director for Groupe Action pour l’enfant, la famille, et la communauté de Prescott-Russell Group Action for Children, Family and Community.
The goal of the annual campaign is to make sure all children of families in need have warm clothing to wear so they can play outside during the winter season. Last year’s campaign distributed more than 300 snowsuits throughout Prescott-Russell for children up to 12 years old. Fournier expects the need for the campaign will be even greater this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The demand will be higher this year,” he said, “because many people were out of work, so there could be a lot of people in need of help.”
Groupe Action has money in its snowsuit fund reserve to ensure purchase of enough snowsuits to meet this year’s demand. The focus of this year’s campaign is to raise funds to help with any extra demands for snowsuits this year and maintain the reserve fund for next year’s program.
Local restaurants like Restaurant Carole in Hawkesbury and Broadway in Rockland will organize their traditional fundraising breakfast days during autumn. All proceeds from the breakfast campaigns go towards the Snowsuit Fund.
The Family Centre offices in Hawkesbury, Rockland, and Embrun are taking applications now for snowsuits. Families who wish to apply must phone their nearest local office before October 30 to make an appointment to register. Phone contacts are 613-632-6959 for Hawkesbury, 446-4220 Rockland, and 443-1614 Embrun.
“I want to thank the people of Prescott-Russell for their generosity,” said Fournier. “When you see the eyes of these kids when they get their snowsuit, there’s no comparison to that.”
