Friday, December 23, 2011

Tis the Season of Giving


 
I love working for Partnership with Children—especially during the holidays.  Each year we host an Annual Holiday Gift Drive and Wrap-A-Thon, and this year is no different!  Starting in early November, we reach out to dozens of companies to participate in our gift drive.  Then in early December, the gifts just keep on coming.  This year we collected over 15,000 gifts!

After the gifts arrive, all of the school’s social workers (including me!) get to “shop” Partnership’s assembled gift store.  We shop for the neediest students we work with as well as their entire families.  It’s a chaotic mess, but so much fun!  Partnership also hosts a 4 day Wrap-A-Thon where board members, junior board members and corporate volunteers come to wrap the piles and piles of gifts!  The gifts are then picked up by us and distributed just before Christmas.

It’s such a warm feeling to know that in addition to our in-school work, we can help our families in so many other ways.  For many families living in poverty, knowing where their next meal is coming from can be a struggle, let alone putting presents under the tree. Many of these families wouldn’t have anything to give to their children during Christmas if it wasn’t for our help. We’re able to provide gifts for those families in need and make their holiday season just a little brighter. It really is the season of giving!

Happy Holidays!