CHRISTMAS
Ideas for Christmas Giving
Would you like to be a Samaritan Center Santa? We have many families with children 12 years of age or younger that need adopting for Christmas. In the past, many of the parents even needed coaxing to get them to share what they would like because they wanted their children’s needs and wants taken care of first. As you know, adopting a family is more than rewarding.
With the help and generosity from people like you, Samaritan Center’s Christmas Adoption program has been extremely successful in helping to provide a joyous Christmas for many families. In 2005, there were 46 seniors and 422 families adopted. In 2006, 88 seniors and 505 families were adopted. This was an increase of 42 seniors and 83 families in just one year. With your help, we will again ensure a wonderful Christmas for these children and their families.
Samaritan Center has decided to try a new method for matching families and seniors this year. As you will see on the enclosed form, we have merged our Senior and Family Adoption program into a single Christmas Adoption program. By making this change, we will be able to have more flexibility with matching adopters with those in need. This change is due the difficulty we have matching senior couples with adopters. For example, if you would like to adopt three individuals, you could be matched with three seniors, a senior couple and a grandchild living with them, or a family of three. If you have any questions or special requests, please do not hesitate to give me a call.The process is all very simple. We will be signing families and seniors up throughout the month of October. All you need to do is fill out the Adoption Commitment Form and stick it in the mail right away or fax it back to us. We will then contact you with information about the family (or families if you are adopting more than one) or senior. On the form, you need to indicate if you plan to deliver the gifts, food, etc., or if the family should pick them up. Once you receive the family’s information, you are free to communicate with them as needed.
You will have the choice of delivering to your adopted family or senior of you may bring the gifts to Samaritan Center for us to arrange pick up. If you are bringing gifts to Samaritan Center we ask all gifts be here by Friday December 14. The gifts must be wrapped and placed in black plastic bags with the provided label attached.
The Samaritan Center staff is eager to assist you with your deliveries. Just drive around to the very back of the building between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and ring the buzzer next to the door. We do go to lunch though between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.
If you are looking for a special way to make the holidays more meaningful for your family, perhaps Santa’s Workshop is just what you are looking for.
Take your family or friends and go shop for toys—we ask that toys average a cost of $10.00 so that there is continuity in the selection. Then drop them off Mon-Thurs between 8:30am-noon, or Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 4pm-6pm by Monday, December 4th. We’ll put them in Santa’s Workshop.
Parents, whose families are not adopted through the Adopt a Family program, are allowed to choose two toys for each child. This is for families who don’t come in during the October sign up, are new to town, or have some sort of crisis before Christmas that leaves them unprepared.
You could be an answer to some parent’s urgent prayer!
The Samaritan Center’s Executive Director, Marylyn DeFeo, believes that there should be a Turkey on every table at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Therefore, the Center attempts to provide the more than 900 families each month with not only the Turkey but the trimmings too.
If your office or family would like to help in this endeavor to insure that every family in the surrounding community has wonderful holiday meals, here’s what you need to do:
1. Set a goal of how many families your group would like to provide a turkey for and write it down.
2. Then begin collecting from all of those wanting to be involved in the effort. Keep in mind that each Turkey is $10.00.
3. When finished send a check or bring the money by as a group to the Samaritan Center: 1310 East McCarty Street. Come to the side door and ring the buzzer. Please be sure to write down the names of all of those who contributed or the group name and address.