It’s not just the help she receives from community volunteers but the kindness as well that Kirsten Williams appreciates.
“We lost dad in 2018,” explains the Alcona woman collecting shoes for her kids at the latest Community for Kids initiative to help those in the community who could use a boost. “I’m a single mom of three (boys aged five, 10 and 13).”
She’s recently completed a program preparing her for the workforce and says she was able to do it because of the support she’s received for her children.
“All throughout this process they’ve been a great help, helping me with bags at school time, at Christmas, birthdays, everything.”
Backpacks loaded with school supplies were distributed out of the old Cookstown library for 210 children across Innisfil heading back to school in September. Each one is filled with age-appropriate gear. High school kids, for example, get most of the basics: highlighters, lined paper, binders, pens, papers, a ruler and a lock.
Next door, Mayor Lynn Dollin has loaned out her driveway where Community for Kids has parked a trailer so that they can distribute 195 pairs of shoes.
“It’s all volunteer and it’s grassroots,” she says, adding that Community for Kids has been able to fill a need all the while working with individuals and companies locally.
For years, she’s watched as the organization run entirely by volunteers solicits for money and supplies to give a leg up to those experiencing financial challenges.
Community for Kids, formerly Christmas for Kids, has long expanded beyond being a seasonal charity.
It all started in 1995, recalls Myrlene Boken, when Christmas for Kids developed and became a registered charity because there was an identified need in Innisfil that wasn’t addressed locally.
“We have a lot of poverty in our schools,” she says.
“But we found out, as we got going, that the need was far greater than just Christmas,” says Boken. “Innisfil really didn’t have anything. We didn’t even have a food bank at that time.”
School principals were reporting that some kids needed clothing and that there was food insecurity among some families.
The organization then added programs at Easter and Thanksgiving to help feed families. The backpack program followed. Then came the distribution of warm clothing. Boots later became part of that program. Shoes were then added to the backpack program. There is another program for vulnerable teens through Nantyr Shores Secondary School.
“And now we use leftover toys from Christmas and we help kids with birthday presents,” says Boken. “It just gradually grew. Just the need for some kind charity that could assist families in crisis became more and more evident.”
Boken cites example after example of gaps in the community leaving people without fresh food, transportation to health care and even without a phone to communicate their need.
Through the Innisfil Community Foundation, Community for Kids is now working with other community groups, complementing and not duplicating what they do. Through annual meetings the groups co-ordinate their efforts.
“If someone calls me because they’re out of food, they cannot get something from me in terms of gift cards, unless they’re already using the food bank,” says Boken, adding that her organization might be able to provide resources for fresh food like vegetables to add to the nonperishable items being provided by the food bank.
Working with CONTACT Community Services and its Clothes Line in Alliston, Innisfil families can access clothing as well.
Boken remains involved as president with a board of 11 members. Bev and Anne Kell, who were there in the start, too, remain involved along with the churches, the schools and businesses — which have been doing Christmas and food drives for items to be distributed to community members who need them.
Debra Harrison began helping local kids by distributing unused backpacks and discovered a greater need and a new program was launched 15 years ago.
Community for Kids has no permanent space, using the basement in the former Cookstown library for storage for its donations and bulk discounted clothing purchases through the year. It’s also where they run the backpack program and distribution.
At Christmas time, the organization occupies the arena in Stroud for 11 days.
“We could not manage without the town helping us in that way,” says Boken.
Churchill United Church is regularly used for distribution for smaller programs.
Schools, Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions and Simcoe/Muskoka YMCA Immigrant Services all regularly refer clients to Community for Kids. There is no screening after that, the organization trusts that people asking for help actually need it.
Boken keeps a client list of 700 people and will send out emails about the organization's various programs when school starts, and when the weather gets cooler and warmer clothes are needed. She does it for the Christmas program as well.
Recently, Boken recalls, a community group reached out to the non-profit about a senior without food or a phone.
“We got her food and we’ll keep an eye on her through the year,” explains Boken, who retired as director of strategic planning for Steinberg's Ontario a decade ago.
Earlier in August, Boken received special recognition through the 2024 Ontario Volunteer Service Awards for her decades-long contributions to the community.
With no staff and no headquarters, Community for Kids relies on whatever premises the town and community churches make available.
It provides its services through an annual budget of about $95,000 which comes from fundraising as well as major donors. This year, the Innisfil Community Foundation provided $25,000 for the warm clothing program. Another $17,000 came from Tim Hortons’ cookies campaign.
Schools across the town also collect for the organization, as do businesses.
The cost of the Christmas program alone runs at about $40,000.
“We have a lot of different ways to try to get donations and so far it seems to be working for us,” she says, adding that donations have been down in recent years, requiring the organization to sometimes tighten its belt by reducing what it distributes.
In the end, adds Boken, “we’ve always managed to find the money.”