Giving isn’t just for one day of the year

As we head into the holiday season, Canadians are being urged to give back to this country’s many deserving charities

COVID-19 hit hard and caused us all to change our routines and isolate ourselves from family and friends. The situation was difficult for everyone. But few people suffered more than those with anxiety and depression, according to the World Health Organization which estimated there was a 25 per cent increase in the prevalence of those disorders worldwide.

For Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), COVID-19 worsened an already bad situation.

“The truth is, we were in a mental health crisis before the pandemic hit,” said Deborah Gillis, president and CEO of CAMH Foundation. “Fifty per cent of Canadians will have a mental illness by age 40. And the pandemic has only accelerated and exacerbated those issues.”

Last year alone, CAMH had 14,500 visits to its emergency department and more than 100,000 virtual care visits. At the same time, the facility was coping with overworked front-line staff, fewer volunteers and higher costs for pandemic-related hygiene initiatives.

When it comes to rising demand and strained resources, CAMH is in good company, said Shannon Craig, chief marketing officer for CanadaHelps, a non-profit enterprise serving Canada’s charities.

“The demand on charities has been crazy,” she said. “When we look specifically at small charities, for example, 41 per cent experienced increasing demand at the start of the pandemic.”

Demand has only returned to pre-pandemic levels for five per cent of those charities, and for 59 per cent, demand exceeds capacity. “With donations to charities softening, many will have no choice but to turn away people in need this winter simply due to the resources available,” said Craig.

Now, as we head into the holiday shopping season, Craig said Canadians need to think beyond themselves and give back to one or more of this country’s many deserving non-profit enterprises on Giving Tuesday, the global generosity event, close on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Giving Tuesday first arose in the U.S. in 2012 as a joint initiative by the 92nd Street Y in New York City and the United Nations Foundation. But the folks at CanadaHelps and GIV3 brought it to Canada the following year, and the movement has since spread to more than 80 countries.

“It’s really well-timed,” said Craig. “We all put so much time and effort into holiday shopping, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are massive days of commerce. But the holiday season is just as important to charities as it is to retailers.”

Charities, she said, receive about 30 per cent of their donations in December and 10 per cent occur in the last three days of the month alone. Giving Tuesday is meant to harness that generosity and kick off the holiday giving season.

Part of the power of the movement, Craig said, is that it is wideopen. “No one owns Giving Tuesday — it’s a grassroots movement,” she said. Charities, businesses, groups and individuals can all participate in any way they see fit, and because it’s not controlled, it takes on a life of its own and it stays fresh.”

Monetary donations tend to be substantial — last year alone, Canadian charities raised $43.6 million online on Giving Tuesday. But people with little money to spare often donate volunteer hours or participate in random acts of kindness, such as taking clothes to a drop-off centre or helping a neighbour. Many post #UN-selfies on social media highlighting their endeavours or naming the charity they support to inspire others to give.

Businesses frequently use the occasion to make special donations or to highlight how they are making a difference. And charities mark the day with events (such as a drive to provide homes for pets or warm socks for people experiencing homelessness), or campaigns aimed at reminding the public how important it is to give.

As for CAMH, this year Gillis said, “we’re asking people to think about the individuals in their lives who have been impacted in terms of their mental well-being during the pandemic — whether a child, a family member, a friend or a colleague.”

They are the reason you should consider supporting the country’s leading mental health research, education and teaching hospital, she said, because “those donations help us do the work we do to make a difference in the lives of every one of those people.”