Advent Calendar December 12: Charity Works

Today I'm going to post about Christmas Present. As in now. I mentioned in an earlier post that I work at a Children's Clinic where kids with special (and often unique) health care needs receive care. Every year the Volunteer Coordinator coordinates the Holiday Help program.

We have two programs this year. A local insurance company contacted Lori, our coordinator asking if they could adopt some of our children for Christmas. We collected names and demographic information for several weeks. The insurance company and a few other entities managed to adopt about 160 children, who will each receive some clothes and a gift or two.

The other program is the Toys for Tots program run by the Marines. Families will be able to come in on the appointed day to pick out their toys for their children. So far I believe we are up to 600 children for this program! That's a total of about 760 children who are getting a Christmas because of community programs.

Every agency I've worked at for the past 20 years has had some type of holiday help program for families facing difficulty. I know there are agencies in your community too, and/or a Christmas Angel Tree at a local mall. It's amazing how far adopting just one child, or even adult, can go (don't forget your local senior citizens!).

Another agency in town is called the Community Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona. They accept donations of and coordinate delivery of diapers and protective undergarments for children, the disabled, and the elderly. A local radio station has the December Diaper Drive every year, kicked off by a special holiday presentation of an adapted "Christmas Carol" play.

So today I remember to post a big THANK YOU to Lori at my work for the fantastic job she's been doing, to all the agencies nationwide who help families in need, and to MIXFM, 94.9 in Tucson for the great work they do for the Community Diaper Bank.