By Shaun Penner

Helping Families in Need

Odyssey House hoping to bring holiday joy through Adopt-a-Family program

Oct 23, 2021 | 7:00 AM

With the holiday season fast approaching, Odyssey House in Grande Prairie is in search of donors to help families in need have a memorable Christmas through its Adopt-a-Family program.

The organization, which provides safe and secure housing for women and children who are victims of domestic violence, has been running the annual holiday program for about the past five years. It sees organizations and groups which step forward as donors are matched with a single mother family in need during the Christmas season.

Executive Director at Odyssey House Lisa Watson says the donations provide gifts, grocery gift cards and other holiday items, which provide their “adopted” family with a holiday experience they may not otherwise be able to have.

“It just gives families some flexibility to be able to maintain their day-to-day needs, and not have to worry about making sure that their children and their families have a really memorable holiday season,” said Watson. “It just alleviates some of that pressure of the season.”

In 2020, Watson says the program helped 77 families thanks to many generous donations.

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She explains they work to match the donor with the appropriate family size, such as families with one or two children, all the way up to families of six or more people.

“We really take the time to match the appropriate donor with the family,” Watson said.

While such donations can range from $225 to around $1,000, Watson says they will work with any amount donors are willing to give to help those in need have a happy holiday season.

“Maybe if there isn’t a family size that is appropriate for the donor, we can look at just doing maybe an individual gift donation during that time as well.”

Watson says staff are always happy to bring a bit of joy to their clients during the holiday season, adding those individual gifts donated to the shelter goes a long way.

“We set up a space so that some of the people that are in house that might have missed the cut off for our Adopt-a-Family (program) can come in and select gifts for their families as well,” said Watson.

“Under the circumstances, sometimes it might not be a great experience for those accessing our shelter program, but we really try to make sure that that time is special for them.”

Organizations or people interested in getting involved can contact Nancy at reception@odysseyhouse.ca or by calling 780-538-1332 ext. 101.