Charity says Calgarians 'have a huge opportunity' to give back this season

The increased cost of living through inflation, sky rocketing energy costs along with high rents and food prices is hurting vulnerable families who have nothing left at the end of the month after they pay their bills.

Closer To Home is a non-profit organization that hosts many programs for vulnerable families. This time of year, the group's Adopt-A-Family program brings relief to families who wouldn't be able to have Christmas without the generosity of Calgarians.

But this year organizers are seeing an overwhelming number of people apply to the program that began more than 15 years ago.

Karen Olivier, the CEO of Closer to Home, says this year, 650 families applied to be adopted and another 150 were placed on a waiting list.

"Calgarians have an opportunity to make a huge contribution to the community right now," she said. "For people that are really struggling and people who are actually choosing right now between, do I pay the rent, or do I have a holiday, will there be gifts under the tree for my kids, so this allows them to actually do that."

When Olivier started the program, it hosted around 40 families but she has watched the numbers steadily increase with the highest amount in the last three years.

"That's really been, I think, a testimony to how hard things are for families right now in Calgary," said Olivier. "They're really struggling out there so we need that support from just your average Calgarian to say hey, I'm going to adopt a family this year."

Carline Volcy has seven children and first applied to the program for help in 2011. She says she has no money left at the end of the month for any extras her kids might want.

"Sometimes you have to pick and choose. Right now, my electricity (bill) is huge so I have to pick what's important," she said. "Like food on the table, I have to have electricity, I have to have entertainment because seven kids it's a lot, even that is expensive."

Volcy has been accepted to receive gift cards from Adopt-A-Family worth $125 dollars for each person in the home.

"Oh, it makes this season magical for my kids," said Volcy. "It makes the season magical for me, I get to give something to my kids that I can't give all the time because nowadays things are very expensive so this is a huge thing for my kids."

The program coordinator for Closer to Home Fay Omarshide meets with many of the emotional applicants.

"A family told me that her kids are still young so if they don't get support, then they're not going to have Christmas," she said. "Their kids are going to be; 'Okay, well there is no such thing as Santa Claus now.'"

She says many times she slips into a back room of the office to wipe tears away after hearing from vulnerable families but she says the work is rewarding when families come for their gift cards.

"All the work that we do, there's a purpose for it because once we get to meet the family and see them come in, they are so overwhelmed when they received their packages, they're in tears, they're shaking," said Omarshide. "$200 to us might not mean that much but to those families, they're blown away because $200 to them is everything."

Olivier is hopeful many Calgarians step up to help vulnerable families in their community to have a merry Christmas.

"That's really been, I think, a testimony to how hard things are for families right now in Calgary," she said. "That they're really struggling out there so we need that support from just your average Calgarian to say hey, I'm going to adopt a family this year."

Learn more about Adopt-A-Family here.