Sarah Stewart-Clark wanted to help out 11 employees of Little Wonders following the closure and received some great response.
“Because I was new to the community, I wasn’t sure what the response would be,” she said. “The support has been really overwhelming and appreciative. I’m so grateful to know my family and I have moved to such a giving community.”
Little Wonders Child Care Centres closed the doors to its two locations on Nov. 25. Since then, Stewart-Clark has been receiving donations daily to help out the employees affected.
An online fundraiser has raised more than $1,000 to be split between the 11 employees.
Cash donations to specific families was $700, and $750 in gift cards were donated to specific families. Donors – the staff at Truro Toyota, The Snore Shop and the congregation at Cornerstone Assembly – stepped up to sponsor families with complete meals and gifts for Christmas.
“Some of the families have spouses that have fulltime jobs, so many of those families donated the items that were given to them to the other families,” she said.
“Cornerstone Assembly originally agreed to foster one family with a complete meal for Christmas, but just yesterday they said they had full meals for two others.”
The Snore Shop, after collecting donations for one family, took the mother out for dinner and shopping so she could pick out items for Christmas that her children had wanted.
But it wasn’t just the donations that have made Stewart-Clark’s plea special.
“It’s the friendships that have been formed during all of this,” she said. “Some of our children now play together as friends.”
Stewart-Clark said when the daycare centres closed, she didn’t know how to reach all of the employees, but thanks to an original plea for help through the Truro Daily News, staff was able to reach the mother.
Her family hosted a pizza party for all the employees and their children.
“We wanted to be together as a group, and it gave us a chance to figure out the needs for their Christmases,” she said.
With the online donations, Stewart-Clark said half of the people who gave were directly affected by the closure, and the other half came from the general community.
“They felt what was happening was wrong and it just shows that the community cared for them,” said Stewart-Clark.
The online fundraising campaign is still open, and anyone wishing to donate can do so at http://www.gofundme.com/hvi4ow. To contact Sarah Stewart-Clark, email [email protected].
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
