The Good News and The Bad News
As we head into the final days of matching donors with needy families at Adopt-a-Family, the news is not all bad. As of November 25, we have 807 families with approximately 1700 children who will be provided for by generous people in the community.
By community we mean people everywhere: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, plus cash donors from as far away as California and Illinois. A testimony to what we have always said, this program brings out the best in everyone!
But, there's always a but, we still have 279 families with another 600 children that we don't have donors for as of this writing. The date for families to apply for help has past, so we know how many we have left. Surprisingly, the number of families who applied in 2009 remains about the same as in past years.
The one major change that we are seeing is that the percentage of families that we call 'working poor' has increased. These are families where one or both of the parents are working, they are able to keep a roof over their kids' heads, feed them and provide for basic needs but because they usually go check to check, when Christmas comes, there is nothing left. At Adopt-a-Family we always strive to reach out to these families.
The donors, however, have dropped off dramatically. We have heard from many who usually participate who said they couldn't this year because of their own financial difficulties. So our job now is to find new donors.
We are doing a tremendous amount of networking with emails, newspaper articles and word of mouth so we expect to be able to provide for some of these 600 children but can we provide for them all? Right now it doesn't look likely.
If you, your family, your church or your office would like to help this year, please call us at 401-766-2291 or email us at adoptafamily@cox.net. We promise it will be an experience you will never forget.
By community we mean people everywhere: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, plus cash donors from as far away as California and Illinois. A testimony to what we have always said, this program brings out the best in everyone!
But, there's always a but, we still have 279 families with another 600 children that we don't have donors for as of this writing. The date for families to apply for help has past, so we know how many we have left. Surprisingly, the number of families who applied in 2009 remains about the same as in past years.
The one major change that we are seeing is that the percentage of families that we call 'working poor' has increased. These are families where one or both of the parents are working, they are able to keep a roof over their kids' heads, feed them and provide for basic needs but because they usually go check to check, when Christmas comes, there is nothing left. At Adopt-a-Family we always strive to reach out to these families.
The donors, however, have dropped off dramatically. We have heard from many who usually participate who said they couldn't this year because of their own financial difficulties. So our job now is to find new donors.
We are doing a tremendous amount of networking with emails, newspaper articles and word of mouth so we expect to be able to provide for some of these 600 children but can we provide for them all? Right now it doesn't look likely.
If you, your family, your church or your office would like to help this year, please call us at 401-766-2291 or email us at adoptafamily@cox.net. We promise it will be an experience you will never forget.
From the desk of Sandy Soares
We are fast approaching crunch time at Adopt-A-Family. This is the last week that the families can apply, and when we will put a big push on to attract people to get involved and help.
For the last six years we have been able to provide for every child in every family who qualified. That means an average of 2100 children got Christmas presents because of people in the community who wanted to do something for someone less fortunate.
Are we going to make it a seventh year? My gut is telling me no. When I made that announcement at a Board meeting last week, one of the Board members piped up with, "Sandy, you say that every year, and we always do it." As the saying goes, Brenda, from your mouth to God's ear. Please let me be wrong.
Over the twenty years that I've been part of this wonderful organization, first as donor, then volunteer, then Board member and now Program Coordinator, I have been asked WHY I do what I do. My answer is usually Because I can. Memories of my own happy Christmases as a child and now as a parent and grandparent motivate me to try to bring a bit of that to children in families who are struggling. And honestly I do it for me, too, because it feels good.
I have always said that AAF serves two distinct parts of the community. The first is obvious, the kids who probably wouldn't have much of a Christmas if it weren't for our program.
The second, probably less obvious to most, is the donors and volunteers who help us make this happen. During the week this all comes together our little board of sixteen members swells to include 150+ volunteers. That doesn't count the donors who provide for these 1000 families although most of our volunteers are also donors.
So when I say we serve the donors and volunteers I mean we give them a place and an opportunity to get involved. So many people want to do more than write a check. They want hands-on participation. And our volunteers love working with us every year. It's hard work but it's also fun and fulfilling.
But the reality is, we have 150 families without donors and I'm expecting at least that many more before the deadline to apply. So that's probably close to 700 kids. And the donors have dropped off dramatically, much earlier this year than usual. A sign of the poor economy, I'm sure.
Below is a photo of the applications from families yet to be matched with donors.
Before too long we will have to look at the applications from families without donors and decide who's in and who's out. Who will get a letter that says "we are very sorry but we can't help you this year." It's the part of the process I dislike most. It's when I feel like we are playing God.
I hope Brenda's right, and that we won't have to turn anyone away.
For the last six years we have been able to provide for every child in every family who qualified. That means an average of 2100 children got Christmas presents because of people in the community who wanted to do something for someone less fortunate.
Are we going to make it a seventh year? My gut is telling me no. When I made that announcement at a Board meeting last week, one of the Board members piped up with, "Sandy, you say that every year, and we always do it." As the saying goes, Brenda, from your mouth to God's ear. Please let me be wrong.
Over the twenty years that I've been part of this wonderful organization, first as donor, then volunteer, then Board member and now Program Coordinator, I have been asked WHY I do what I do. My answer is usually Because I can. Memories of my own happy Christmases as a child and now as a parent and grandparent motivate me to try to bring a bit of that to children in families who are struggling. And honestly I do it for me, too, because it feels good.
I have always said that AAF serves two distinct parts of the community. The first is obvious, the kids who probably wouldn't have much of a Christmas if it weren't for our program.
The second, probably less obvious to most, is the donors and volunteers who help us make this happen. During the week this all comes together our little board of sixteen members swells to include 150+ volunteers. That doesn't count the donors who provide for these 1000 families although most of our volunteers are also donors.
So when I say we serve the donors and volunteers I mean we give them a place and an opportunity to get involved. So many people want to do more than write a check. They want hands-on participation. And our volunteers love working with us every year. It's hard work but it's also fun and fulfilling.
But the reality is, we have 150 families without donors and I'm expecting at least that many more before the deadline to apply. So that's probably close to 700 kids. And the donors have dropped off dramatically, much earlier this year than usual. A sign of the poor economy, I'm sure.
Below is a photo of the applications from families yet to be matched with donors.
Before too long we will have to look at the applications from families without donors and decide who's in and who's out. Who will get a letter that says "we are very sorry but we can't help you this year." It's the part of the process I dislike most. It's when I feel like we are playing God.
I hope Brenda's right, and that we won't have to turn anyone away.
My Life by Rhea Bouchard Powers
Here is the transcript of Rhea Bouchard Powers' column as it appears today in The Valley Breeze. If you would like to read it on their website, go here.Adopt-A-Family (2009)
By
Rhea Bouchard Powers
Note: This column marks an anniversary for me. It was 20 years ago this month that I wrote my first Adopt-a-Family column. Twenty-years and here I am, as passionate about it now as I was then. The only difference is that in the intervening years I have also become a full-time volunteer and a member of the Board of Directors.
Trying to come up with a different way to say the same thing year after year becomes a challenge. Therefore, this time around I am going to run the same column that first saw the light of day in November of 1990.
Christmas can be a tough time of the year under the best of circumstances and for a lot of different reasons. But the toughest thought for me to face at this time of the year is that there will be children who won’t receive anything for Christmas. I’m particularly sensitive on that subject because that’s what my father’s Christmases were like as a child.
He was six years old when his mother and baby brother were killed in an automobile accident shortly after the family moved from Canada to the States. His father, grief-stricken and in poor health, managed to keep the three surviving children together, but they lived in boarding houses and for many years their lives were pretty cheerless.
My heart just breaks when my father tells how he used to attend 6:00 o’clock Mass on Christmas morning to avoid meeting other kids. “They used to laugh at me because I didn’t get anything for Christmas,” he explained, and my eyes fill with tears at the thought. That’s a terrible memory to have to carry with you through life, and there is nothing anyone can do to erase it.
That’s probably why Tom Ward’s column about the Adopt-a-Family program caught my attention last year around this time. It explained how people could volunteer to sponsor a needy family for Christmas, agreeing to furnish gifts of clothing and toys.
Unlike most charities that involve nameless, faceless donations, Adopt-a-Family furnishes you with a personalized list. You’re given the children’s first names, ages, and what the parent thinks each child needs and wants.
My sisters and I decided to pool our resources and adopt a family together. We selected a single-parent family with three children. When our list arrived in the mail we mapped out our strategy, and on a Friday evening all four of us set out to do some shopping.
Our first stop was the shoe store. Picking out winter boots for this one and running shoes for that one didn’t take much time, then it was onward and upward to the second place on our list, a children’s clothing store.
That required a little more strategy and a lot more time, trying to coordinate age-appropriate outfits that were stylish. We tossed in some trendy socks and a few other inexpensive fad items as well. Kids have such a need to be like everyone else, and if we were kids we would have loved this stuff. It was at the toy store, though, that we lost control and had the most fun.
At this point, for all intents and purposes, these three children had become “ours.”
On Christmas morning, as I sat in my living room surrounded by my own family, my thoughts were also with my adopted family. I wondered how they had liked their gifts, and wished I could have been there to see their faces as they opened their presents. My sisters all told me they felt the same way.
Needless to say, we have decided to adopt a family again this year as a family holiday project. We are adopting a second one as well, in conjunction with a group of friends.
No, I really don’t have an awful lot of money, but Adopt-a-Family is a Christmas gift I give myself. I do it primarily because it makes me feel good and because it makes my Christmas richer. But on a deeper, more fundamental level, I am doing it for the long ago little boy whose bleak Christmas memories I am powerless to change, and for the children in the here and now whose memories of Christmas have yet to be formed.
If you are interested in adopting one or more children (at an average cost of $150 per child), or making a donation that will be used to provide gifts for children who have not been sponsored by outside donors, call us at 401-766-2291 and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as possible. If you would like to join us as a volunteer, call 401-769-3429 and speak to Beverly Denis, our volunteer coordinator (and my sister). You can also visit us online at AdoptAFamily@cox.net.
In these financially troubled times we really need your help. Please join us. You will be glad you did.
By
Rhea Bouchard Powers
Note: This column marks an anniversary for me. It was 20 years ago this month that I wrote my first Adopt-a-Family column. Twenty-years and here I am, as passionate about it now as I was then. The only difference is that in the intervening years I have also become a full-time volunteer and a member of the Board of Directors.
Trying to come up with a different way to say the same thing year after year becomes a challenge. Therefore, this time around I am going to run the same column that first saw the light of day in November of 1990.
Christmas can be a tough time of the year under the best of circumstances and for a lot of different reasons. But the toughest thought for me to face at this time of the year is that there will be children who won’t receive anything for Christmas. I’m particularly sensitive on that subject because that’s what my father’s Christmases were like as a child.
He was six years old when his mother and baby brother were killed in an automobile accident shortly after the family moved from Canada to the States. His father, grief-stricken and in poor health, managed to keep the three surviving children together, but they lived in boarding houses and for many years their lives were pretty cheerless.
My heart just breaks when my father tells how he used to attend 6:00 o’clock Mass on Christmas morning to avoid meeting other kids. “They used to laugh at me because I didn’t get anything for Christmas,” he explained, and my eyes fill with tears at the thought. That’s a terrible memory to have to carry with you through life, and there is nothing anyone can do to erase it.
That’s probably why Tom Ward’s column about the Adopt-a-Family program caught my attention last year around this time. It explained how people could volunteer to sponsor a needy family for Christmas, agreeing to furnish gifts of clothing and toys.
Unlike most charities that involve nameless, faceless donations, Adopt-a-Family furnishes you with a personalized list. You’re given the children’s first names, ages, and what the parent thinks each child needs and wants.
My sisters and I decided to pool our resources and adopt a family together. We selected a single-parent family with three children. When our list arrived in the mail we mapped out our strategy, and on a Friday evening all four of us set out to do some shopping.
Our first stop was the shoe store. Picking out winter boots for this one and running shoes for that one didn’t take much time, then it was onward and upward to the second place on our list, a children’s clothing store.
That required a little more strategy and a lot more time, trying to coordinate age-appropriate outfits that were stylish. We tossed in some trendy socks and a few other inexpensive fad items as well. Kids have such a need to be like everyone else, and if we were kids we would have loved this stuff. It was at the toy store, though, that we lost control and had the most fun.
At this point, for all intents and purposes, these three children had become “ours.”
On Christmas morning, as I sat in my living room surrounded by my own family, my thoughts were also with my adopted family. I wondered how they had liked their gifts, and wished I could have been there to see their faces as they opened their presents. My sisters all told me they felt the same way.
Needless to say, we have decided to adopt a family again this year as a family holiday project. We are adopting a second one as well, in conjunction with a group of friends.
No, I really don’t have an awful lot of money, but Adopt-a-Family is a Christmas gift I give myself. I do it primarily because it makes me feel good and because it makes my Christmas richer. But on a deeper, more fundamental level, I am doing it for the long ago little boy whose bleak Christmas memories I am powerless to change, and for the children in the here and now whose memories of Christmas have yet to be formed.
If you are interested in adopting one or more children (at an average cost of $150 per child), or making a donation that will be used to provide gifts for children who have not been sponsored by outside donors, call us at 401-766-2291 and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as possible. If you would like to join us as a volunteer, call 401-769-3429 and speak to Beverly Denis, our volunteer coordinator (and my sister). You can also visit us online at AdoptAFamily@cox.net.
In these financially troubled times we really need your help. Please join us. You will be glad you did.
PROGRAM UPDATE
As of today we have 548 families matched with donors. That's probably about 1150 children who we know will be getting gifts this year. As great as that sounds, I expect at least that many more to apply before the application period ends on November 20. And our response from donors has definitely slowed.
It looks likely that this is going to be the first time in seven years that we may not be able to provide for all the eligible families who apply. A second mailing to last year's donors who have not responded yet will be going out in the next week. We'll keep our fingers crossed that many of those people will be sending back their Donor Reply Card soon!
It looks likely that this is going to be the first time in seven years that we may not be able to provide for all the eligible families who apply. A second mailing to last year's donors who have not responded yet will be going out in the next week. We'll keep our fingers crossed that many of those people will be sending back their Donor Reply Card soon!
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