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Closing time for the Christmas Bureau City having difficulty finding outside agency to run program for needy kids, staff says BY BEN SPURR DECEMBER 28, 2011 12:22 AM Like 0
Toronto's Christmas Bureau was established in 1956 to make sure children living in poverty didn't have to go without a gift over the holidays. For nearly six decades it survived economic downturns and weathered amalgamation, but it couldn't escape the current climate of austerity at City Hall. Last week the bureau played Santa to the city's poor for what was likely the last time. "Having been involved in this program for many years, it's difficult to see it being cut," says Brenda Nesbitt, director of Toronto social services, the city department in charge of the bureau. "I guess you would have to ask the politicians why it's going." Earlier this year as part of Mayor Rob Ford's core service review, consultant firm KPMG found the bureau's relatively meager net budget of $151,000 was expendable. All of that money goes towards administrative costs of coordinating the delivery of gifts to over 100,00 children; no extra staff are hired to run the bureau for the two months of the year it's in operation, and gifts like toys and warm clothing are supplied through partnerships with the Toronto Star, Toronto Fire Services, and CHUM. Final numbers for 2011 aren't in yet, but in 2010 the vast majority of those served by the bureau were children under the age of 13. Despite the small amount of savings it represents, in September councillors voted 25-20 not to save the bureau from budget cuts. Unless a new arrangement to outsource the program is worked out or councillors have a change of heart, thousands of Toronto families could be facing a leaner Christmas in 2012. "You have a lot of families with children who other than this might not get a gift at all," Nesbitt says. The bureau's clients are "very low income families. They could be on social assistance, Ontario disability. They're on a very limited income. It helps those families immensely." While staff were directed to find an outside agency to run the program, Nesbitt says so far no group has volunteered. "We've had a couple of conversations but at this point in time nobody's come forward that could do this type of work without the funding," she says. Even if an outside organization were to take on the bureau's work, the city would likely have to continue to be involved in some way. Currently, the bureau uses confidential city information to contact families that might be in need over the holidays, and the city would still have to ask those families permission to pass on their information to a third party. Nesbitt said she was surprised at council's decision to outsource the bureau but that her staff are making the best of it. When asked if the half dozen city workers who administer the program did anything different this Christmas to mark what could be the bureau's last year, she said it was business as usual. "Our staff are very professional and they did their 100 per cent in terms of making sure this year's Christmas Bureau was a success," she said. "I can't respond to what city council does."
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