More than a year ago, Roland LaPlant had to quit his truck driving job for medical reasons.

"I was sick all winter and springtime," he says, but now he's feeling better and has moved from Parksville to the West Shore looking for work. Things are slow, so he has turned to the West Shore Christmas Hamper Fund for a helping hand for himself and his teenage daughter.

"If I didn't have this, I wouldn't have much of a Christmas at all," says LaPlant, 45. "Right now, all my money is going out. I've got car insurance and bills and everything."

He can barely afford to buy his daughter a gift this year. "Usually she gets spoiled," he says quietly. Through the West Shore Christmas Hamper Fund and the Greater Victoria Christmas Bureau, children 17 and younger get two new presents apiece worth $50.

"They're all really nice people; they always have smiles on their faces," he says of the food bank volunteers.

Christmas Hamper Fund chairwoman Gayle Ireland has worked as a volunteer at the Goldstream Food Bank for 23 years and says that this year is "the hardest year I have ever seen. People are just strapped."

She was referring to both people who'd like to donate and those who need a hand. "Everybody's cost of living has gone up."

Last year, the food bank supplied 827 hampers for Christmas, including gifts for children. This year, they've capped their limit at 750 through the Greater Victoria Christmas Bureau, but might be able to provide 800.

So many construction-related jobs on the West Shore have disappeared, Ireland says.

Another grateful West Shore hamper recipient will be Don, a laid-off shipyard worker scraping by on modest pensions, along with his handicapped wife and son.

"We can't afford to have Christmas," he says. "It's as simple as that. I've used the food bank every month since I was laid off in the spring."

He takes his hat off to the staffers at the food bank: "They've saved my life and helped out a lot. Without that, we wouldn't be getting a turkey," he says, and it's much appreciated. Someday, if I ever win a million dollars, I'll give them a hundred thousand. That'd be the first place I'd go. They're astonishing people there."

The West Shore Christmas Hamper Fund is one of 11 member agencies of the Greater Victoria Christmas Bureau that raise money for hampers, vouchers and gifts for children.

To donate to the West Shore Christmas Hamper Fund, call 250-474-4443.

Donations are also being accepted by the Times Colonist Christmas Fund, which raised more than $250,000 last year for more than 2,300 households needing a helping hand for a merrier Christmas.