Thrive Community Support Circle unpacks over 100 toys for their holiday hampers, thanks to The Vic Foundation's supporters and Toys R Us Canada. 


For Jessica, Christmas was a flurry of drones, remote control cars, and more. While she can’t quite remember the names of everything her kids got for Christmas, she knows they certainly can. After months of unexpected challenges from COVID-19, the amazing gifts made a dreary year much brighter for the family.

Jessica’s family was one of over 100 local families who received toys for the holidays through The Vic Foundation’s partnership with Toys R Us Canada — all thanks to the generosity of our supporters. For every $50 donation to The Vic Foundation, we gave a toy to be included in Thrive Community Support Circle’s holiday hampers to make this time of year extra special for families like Jessica’s. The funds raised will be invested into our community’s health and well-being and enhancing patient care.

“Everything that all the boys got, it was probably their favorite gift they got this Christmas,” said Jessica. “It was just perfect.”

The pandemic has had a huge economic impact on Manitobans. According to Statistics Canada, Manitoba lost 6,600 jobs in December. A majority of those lost jobs were held by women.

Jessica lost her job due to COVID-19, and even though her family owns a small hobby farm, money has been tight this year.

“There’s been less work, just less everything. It’s just been hard to make enough money,” she said.

This surge in unemployment can make it difficult for parents who just want to make the holiday season special for their family after such a difficult year.

“We were just really surprised that we were picked. It was a really bad year for us, a really, really bad year. We were really thankful to get it. We really needed it.”

On top of everything else, Jessica is also balancing half of her six kids between the ages of two and 15 going to school in person and half learning from home. Adjusting to the “new normal” can be stressful for parents and children who are now spending more time together in close quarters and under stressful circumstances.

These holiday toys gave families in our community one less thing to worry about and something to look forward to during the past few months that have been filled with bad news.

Thank you to everyone who helped brighten the holidays for children and families in our community!