Local Facebook groups fundraising for three local families

After a suggestion from a member, admins realized they have the means to help someone during the holiday season, and decided to put a call out to families in need, narrowing it down to three.

“We’ve all been through hard times with the oil industry crashing,” says Mandy Fischer, admin of the group. “So we just want to help out fellow people that are struggling right now, this time of year is fantastic to do that.”

The first family chosen is a single mother of two kids, one of her children is special needs, and dealing with respite has caused her to struggle financially.

The second family is a single mother of one child. Three years ago, her husband attempted to take her left in front of their child, and after escaping that situation, the mother discovered a brain aneurysm. Now in 2018, she discovered she has a rare and terminal cancer, giving her roughly two years to live.

The third family is a single mother of four that was nominated by a teacher. She struggles to make ends meet, and often depends on the school meals to help her children.

The plan originally was to donate to only one family, but organizers decided it was too tough to choose.

“It does look like we will probably be donating to all three families,” says Justin Lundstrom, founder of the page. “Because it’s gonna be just as hard to pick one let alone narrow it down to three.”

On November 30, the group made a post where a minimum five dollar donation to the family fund will give members the chance to win an espresso machine, rocketbook or a glass rack.

Most cash donations have been closer to $50 dollars, and as of now December 4 the group has raised $1038.00 dollars in cash and more than $1685.00 in products and services from local businesses.

Some donated items include a Nintendo classic game system, two hours of tattoo work and six male haircuts.

In addition to that, Lundstrom and Digby are donating 10 per cent of their own profits to the fund.

Digby says she hopes the gesture inspires others to give back as well.

“We wanna give back to people in our community,” says Digby “We wanna say ‘you know what, it’s about time as a society, as a community, we start rooting for each other, enough of this cut throat, every man for himself’, we need to take each other under our wings and elevate each other.”

Donations close on December 15, and the three admins plan on delivering the donations to the families on December 20.

Visit Alberta Crowd Funds Facebook page for more information.

by Jessie Weisner

Local Facebook groups fundraising for three local families

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