The annual Realtors Care blanket drive - which ran from Nov. 28 to Dec. 5, 2011 throughout the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby - helped 19,000 people this year, according to a press release from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Realtors collected blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing, outerwear and new socks and underwear for women, men and children throughout the region.
In 2010, the drive collected enough blankets and warm clothing for more than 25,000 people, according to the Realtors Care website.
TOYS FOR KIDS
FortisBC collected and donated toys to five Lower Mainland transition homes - including Dixon Transition House in Burnaby - this year, according to a press release from the company.
Employees in FortisBC offices in Surrey, Vancouver and the new Burnaby customer service centre donated new toys and gifts for families in the transition homes through the company's seventh annual Warm Hearts Toy Drive.
"Over the past seven years, the generosity of FortisBC's Warm Hearts Foundation makes Christmas a happy and joyous time for the families at the Dixon Transition Society's Transition House," said Panteha Aghili, executive director of the Dixon Transition Society, in the release.
"The women and children in our programs are homeless because of domestic violence, and hopefully they can spend a little more time experiencing the joy of Christmas with the help of employees at FortisBC."
"This year FortisBC has 200 new employees working in Burnaby, and this brand new team enthusiastically came together to join the Toy Drive initiative and support families that need a bit of a lift this season at the Marguerite Dixon Transition Home in Burnaby," said Amy Hennessy, manager of community relations and chair of FortisBC's Warm Hearts Charitable Foundation.
Other transition homes that received gifts and toys were Nova House in Richmond, Ishtar House in Langley and Evergreen and Virginia Sam in Surrey.
The FortisBC Warm Hearts Toy Drive began in 2005. Through employee donations and fundraisers, the Warm Hearts Charitable foundation has donated more than $600,000 to charities throughout the province since it was founded in 1994.
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