What is the Gift Card Program?
With record increases in child and family poverty in Toronto, many families served by the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CCAS) have struggled to afford food, diapers, formula, personal care items and basic household needs. Your donations provide families with gift cards from Canadian retailers so they can provide for their children, preventing a temporary cash shortfall from snowballing.
How it helps:
Vulnerable families need a hand
Toronto is the child poverty capital of Canada, and the depth of poverty is growing, particularly among low-income, one-parent, Indigenous, racialized, immigrant and newcomer children. Gift cards from the CCAF offer a lifeline for CCAS-involved families, who are challenged by financial instability, unemployment, education gaps and mental health concerns.
Your impact:
CCAF-funded gift cards cover unexpected needs that fall through the cracks
Gift cards don’t just deliver financial aid—they offer stability, dignity and hope. Thanks to donors like you, CCAF-funded gift cards have:
- Helped an unemployed mother buy a stroller or her toddler after escaping from domestic violence.
- Filled the lunch boxes of children who recently arrived in Canada, but whose family hadn’t yet qualified for community support.
- Been a godsend for a single mom who was unable to work while caring for her teenage daughter with cancer.
Read more inspiring stories

TV host spotlights tenacious students
CP24 anchor Bakari Savage celebrated youth in extended care who received CCAF scholarships

Brandon and Sean’s Story – How Two Brothers Are Paying It Forward For The Next Generation
“They are my parents, that’s how I think of them today. I love them. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today, if it weren’t for them.”
– Brandon, 32, on his foster parents

Helping people in hardship with nowhere to turn
Emergency Grants annually help more than 250 children, youth and families in urgent need every year
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Christmas Programs
With your support, vulnerable Toronto families receive food, household needs, clothing, gift cards and toys to celebrate the joy of Christmas

Access & Family Support
Researching and evaluating an innovative new approach to safely reunite parents and kids who are in the child welfare system

Friends & Loved Ones
Funding holiday travel and bonding activities for Toronto youth in extended care