Kitchener-WaterlooLast week, The Healing of Seven Generations realized it didn’t have enough turkeys and toys to give out this year for its annual Christmas hampers. So it made a Facebook post letting families know that there won’t be enough turkey for all the hampers going out this year. The turkey shortage didn’t last for much longer after that as donations came in quickly.The Healing of the Seven Generations will be including the turkeys in their annual Christmas hampersAastha Shetty · CBC News · Posted: Dec 09, 2025 7:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A shortage of turkeys for The Healing of the Seven Generations Christmas hamper was quickly met with community support and donations. The Kitchener non-profit is hoping to keep the momentum going and collect toys so every child has something to unwrap this Christmas. (CBC )A call out for help with Christmas donations is being met with community support.It began with a social media post last week, when The Healing of Seven Generations (H7G), a Kitchener-based non-profit, realized it didn’t have enough turkeys and toys to give out this year for its annual Christmas hampers.The post was made to let families know that there won’t be enough turkey for every hamper.”H7G can only provide what we have at the end of the day and we are always open for donations,” the post said on Thursday.”Please understand that we are a non-profit organization and rely on donations and funding for specific programs.”Because of that Facebook post, the group received more than 100 turkey donations by Tuesday morning. They also received enough toy donations for all the kids who were hoping for a Christmas present.”[It was] very overwhelming,” said Donna Dubie, the executive director, adding there were so many donations they had to solve the problem of where to store all the turkeys.The yearly Christmas hamper by The Healing of the Seven Generations has been popular among Indigenous families looking to put together a special holiday meal. On request, it can also include toys for kids of various ages.This social media post by The Healing of the Seven Generations prompted dozens of turkey donations in one day. (The Healing of the Seven Generations/Facebook)This year, over 100 families had signed up for the hampers, including over 250 children hoping to unwrap a Christmas present.’It’s really hard to reach out’Dubie says the reaction to that post was an unexpected amount of community support.”Sometimes it’s really hard to reach out, to ask for help, even within our own community because we are individuals and people and organizations that have a lot of pride,” she said, thanking the community for its generosity.”The cost of food has gone higher. People are struggling to pay their rent. It’s just overwhelming for everybody. So even a can of peas I can appreciate from anybody who wants to donate.”Dubie says this is the first year they’ve been faced with a turkey shortage for their Christmas hampers.The hampers include a variety of items to give families everything they might need to put together a Christmas meal: potatoes, a bag of carrots, boxes of stuffing and cranberry sauce.Dubie says donations can be made through their website via e-transfer with a note that it is for the Christmas program.You can also make donations in person at The Healing of Seven Generation’s office in Kitchener.ABOUT THE AUTHORAastha Shetty is a journalist with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. She has lived, worked and told stories in Waterloo region and surrounding areas since 2018. She has covered a variety of topics including housing and affordability, consumer rights and social injustice. She also has experience as a court reporter and as a multimedia producer. Get in touch: aastha.shetty@cbc.ca or 226 338 7845.
Social media post leads to ‘overwhelming’ number of turkey donations for Kitchener non-profit
