how do you "give" during the holiday season?

[Grumpy's Gal]

Just curious. Adopting families is a big thing around here.

 

[ash&abby'smom]

My daughter's dance classes adopt children, so we do that child and our church also has a giving tree with names of children and their ages. We pull a couple of those to give to as well.

 

[Jennifer S]

We adopt a child through Dh's work. Each co-worker takes a person in the family. We got a 10 year old girl this year.

We also do small stuff at school and church- giving tree etc.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

We adopt a child through Dh's work. Each co-worker takes a person in the family.

That sounds fun!

 

[JennyMominRI]

We will adopt 2 people off the giving tree this year..They have children and the elderly to choose from.We will pick one of each

 

[anewvance]

I picked up a name from the Salvation Army tree... when I drop the stuff I got off, i'm gonna get another one.

 

[florida-again]

What does 'adopting a family' mean? We don't have that concept here.

 

[horseshowmom]

We do the Angel Tree. I picked up an "angel" yesterday off the tree at Wal-Mart that was for a foster child. I'm also planning on doing the Golden Angel tree at Chick-Fil-A (sp?). Those are for senior citizens in nursing homes, etc.

 

[barbeml]

We send a big check to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

What does 'adopting a family' mean? We don't have that concept here.

The local agency gives you a "family" to adopt that otherwise wouldn't have too much at Christmas. You provide a holiday dinner for them and some clothes and gifts for all of the members of the family. Usually a business or an office adopts a family and the employees all chip in and it works out very well.

 

[golfgal]

I am on the board for our local toys for tots type program so I do things for this group all year. We also buy things through out the year for this group and then of course the week of our collection/distribution I am there all day, every day working.

 

[nu cruzer]

We "adopt" a needy child through a local agency. This year we have a 3 year old boy.

In fact, I just boxed up his presents this morning. He asked Santa for a Spiderman figure and cars.

 

[Trish Bessette]

I adopted two families with the help of some contributions from people I work with. What I mean by "adopt" is I have the age, and whether the child is male or female, plus a list of what they would like/need. I shop for the kids as well as give the family a complete turkey dinner. One family I have has two girls and the other family has one boy. I bought both the girls 4 outfits, hat & mittens, plus around 10 toys. Plus we have 5 boxes of food ready for each family. This will be a great Christmas for them!!

I also contribute to our giving tree at Church by purchasing a few gift cards.

I help make baskets for our "caring & sharing" which distributes toys & food to needy families in our county.

 

[disykat]

I don't really give any differently during the holidays than I do during the rest of the year. We give monthly to the food bank through our church's first Sunday collection, and have one charity a month that gets a check when I pay the bills. December is Salvation Army.

 

[EthansMom]

and have one charity a month that gets a check when I pay the bills. December is Salvation Army.

I love that idea! I may borrow it from you.

....

We usually send off a check to the Red Cross at the Holidays and I always let the kids drop some money in the buckets for the Salvation Army bell ringers.

 

[Shugardrawers]

We will be doing several of the Angel Tree seniors. I got so tired of seeing the kids wanting x boxes and game boys that I went to that tree. Most of them are asking for things that all combined are less than $25 like socks, slippers and hats. Also donating some board and card games to a nursing home along with a TON of yarn and crochet hooks and knitting needles.

 

[binny]

we donate to the Salvation Army every year as well as adopting children from the angel tree. Its a tree for children of prisoners.

 

[eeyore kelly]

We give loads and loads of change to the salvation army bell ringers, and we donate about $50.00 and 5 toys to toys for tots

 

[Lynn CC]

Dress A Live Doll We pick 2, a girl and a boy, they make up their wish list and we get everything on it for them and more!
Some of the things they ask for are so cute.

 

[Soccer Princess]

We do an Angel tree child through my mom's work. Each section of the office takes a different family. They are not from the Louisville area (where we are), but one of the poorer, more rural communities in KY (which, btw, the Appalachia sections of KY are some of the poorest in the country).

These are not people taking advantage of the system and asking for electronics like we have seen on the Angel Trees here. They usually ask for mittens, clothes, boots, blankets and maybe a doll or small toy. It really is quite heartbreaking and makes you think about how fortunate we are.

I haven't seen anything about Angel Tree seniors in our area? Hmm, does anyone know if this is nationwide? I would like to get involved with this as well.