OT-Christmas adopt a family?

[jsweeks@cogeco.ca]

Hi! We try to teach our kids that Christmas is not all about what am I getting, so We always donate toys to the Salvation Army every Christmas. One year we choose a family to adopt, so we went and bought clothes and toys for the kids, things for the parents and their turkey dinner and all the fixings. So we showed up to bring all the things and see someone leaving, who just dropped off all the same! So we hand our gifts over and get yah thanks and we were on our way. As we loaded the kids into the car there was another that pulled up to drop off another load! We would like to start this over again but not get taken advantage of. Does anyone know of a charity that will not be like this?

 

[ferris198]

My son's school does this.
Each class adopts a family. We get a letter home from school that indicates the number of people in the family, and the ages and sizes of all family members.
Sometimes, if it is a large family, 2 classes will be involved.
We never know the identity of the family.
They don't all attend the school, but are from the local community.
The list of families is provided by a local charity.

 

[MikeyNS]

We did that one year and had a bad experience.. A single mom and young son, which is what we wanted, my wife took all the presents into the house and found her to have a tree with more presents than we're used too, a huge flat screen TV, nice furniture, etc etc. My wife asked if there was anything she needed and she said some milk would be nice, so she went to the corner store and bought some milk.
As they chit-chatted after that she told her she was going down the street for Xmas dinner with her family and her son would have more presents there to open as well.
Makes you wonder why she signed up to begin with.

 

[jsweeks@cogeco.ca]

I can't believe how people take advantage of the generousity of others. I am sure there was a family that really needed the things and they didn't get them. I have talked to my husband and I think we are going to buy gifts for the womens shelter and the kids there. I hope that it is the right decission this time!?

 

[snickerboo]

We did that one year and had a bad experience.. A single mom and young son, which is what we wanted, my wife took all the presents into the house and found her to have a tree with more presents than we're used too, a huge flat screen TV, nice furniture, etc etc. My wife asked if there was anything she needed and she said some milk would be nice, so she went to the corner store and bought some milk.

Okay, I would be mad. I don't have a flat screen tv! I think a women's shelter is a great idea. I wonder if Sick Kids might have a program like this for their patients and their families. I want to do this, too. You've given me something to think about.

 

[ferris198]

Our School gets a list from the St. Vincent de Pauls society.
It is all totally anonymous.
We know the situation, such as single parent 3 kids, ages and sizes and gender of the family members.
Each class is assigned a family, and we all donate accordingly.
New and gently used clothing and toys is acceptable.
The society provides a turkey for dinner, and we contribute canned goods.
The teachers and parents wrap the gifts, and it is delivered to the families by the charity.

Ds is currently in grade 4, and in the years that we have been involved in this the families have received enough in the way of canned goods and staples that it has carried them for a year.
The school is often sent thank you letters from the families involved which are in turn shared with the children, the students find great joy in knowing they helped someone.

 

[tgropp]

Unfortunately anyone can go into the salvation army and ask for donations and they spoil it for the needy since the SA does not scan the people very well. It is such a good organization and I hate to see people abusing it. Our church gets used in the same way. Anyone can come in and ask for a $25 food voucher that can be used IGA Foodland in our town but the church always gets phone calls from concerned people who are stopped in the parking lot and asked if they want to buy it for $15-20.00 At work approx 400 people donated $25 each Christmas but we gave it to people who only had a single income and could hardly make ends meet let alone buy their children Christmas gifts. They were the most thankful people that I have ever met. It made us feel good delivering to these needy people

 

[DisneyFairytale]

That is so sad and unfortunate. The one thing we usually do is go out christmas caroling to some of the houses we know MIGHT be on the lower end of the totem pole as far as having a nice christmas.

Maybe it's not much, I know our family isn't of an average income, and because of the size of our family, we don't have the luxury of also providing for another one but we do try to spend at least a few evenings baking, making some cards and go deliver things with some christmas carols to them.

Every other year I also try to go to help out with Operation Christmas Child.