I've volunteered to coordinate a Secret Santa/Adopt a Family program for this year for families who are in need of help for the holidays. If your family needs some help with gifts this holiday season send me a pm with your name and address and any specifics about your kids' ages, sizes, etc.

If you're interested in sponsoring a family pm me with any information about what you're able to contribute and I'll try to match you with a family, then send you their information.

Just to be clear, PLEASE do not rely on this as your only outlet for gifts for your kids! I remember that last year someone was angry about not getting the help that was pledged, but as we all know, unexpected things happen. The person who signs up to give might find themselves in a difficult situation themselves and not be able to contribute. I won't be giving out the names of the people who choose to contribute unless they say it's okay.

Thanks,
Kara

I also forgot to put a deadline on this...I think two weeks before Christmas? So that would be the 11th of December for the latest that I can add requests for help.

This is a wonderful program.

If you'd like to contribute to help a family but you can't do a lot, you could send a Walmart or Target gift card, any amount will help. We have some families with multiple kids who have asked to be put on the list, so if they could receive gift cards for $10 to $15 from a few people, as opposed to having only one person sponsor the whole family, that could spread the help out a little.

Please let me know if you can contribute to help!

Normally I don;'t care for the informality of gift cards. I recieved a couple for my b'day recently from family and I was overjoyed to be able to use them
In this case it sounds like the perfect answer.

Older kids definitely prefer gift cards. Plus they are easy to send and if you don't have to pay for shipping it could mean more money for the kids gifts.

good point!

There seems to be a number of families in need and not enough "secret santa" volunteers.

Please, please fellow CCer's anything you can do to help will be greatly appreciated.

Costumeczarina where do we send the gift cards?

If you'd like to send a gift card please pm me and let me know. I'll give you the name and address of a family and you can send the card to them directly. You don't need to give your name, it can be completely anonymous if you'd like to keep it that way. You'd just need to make a note that it was a gift from a CC member, even though they'd probably figure that out!

Thanks!

How many families still need help? I think if we have a definitive # ppl may be more likely to help.

I have one family with two kids who isn't sponsored yet, and one with a larger number of kids who I'm thinking that gift cards from a number of donors would be better than having one person sponsoring them by themselves.

Thanks!

I just pm'd you, send me some info for a family i would love to help!

Thanks to everyone who's volunteered to help so far. I could still use some donors of small-amount (or large!) gift cards for a family that has a lot of kids. Pm me and I'll send you the address to send the cards to the family directly.

Thanks!

Here's a thank you from one family who's receiving help:

Thank you so much! You have no idea how much we appreciate everyone's generosity and how much it helps. We would not be able to have a Christmas without the kindness of the wonderful CC members who are helping us this year. Please pass our tremendous gratitude and heartfelt thanks on to them for me and my family.

I have two more families who have asked for help. One has one child, one has three. If anyone would like to sponsor either please let me know!

...I'm still looking for two more donors! Thanks in advance!

The day after Black Friday...We've all done our shopping, and can now think about our budgets for Secret Santas!

If anyone can sponsor a family or contribute a gift card for a smaller amount, I'd greatly appreciate it. I now have 4 requests for help and nobody to match them with. If you were planning on doing a toys for tots program this year, this would be a good outlet for that!

Thanks!

I'm down to three families who now need help...I need sponsors! One family has one child, and two have three children. If you can contribute ANYTHING please pm me. Even small amounts on a gift card would be great.

Can anyone think of a way I can help some one as I am in the UK so a gift would be expensive to mail and our giftcards wouldnot be accepted in like stores in America/Canada? I do however have a paypal account.

Scrummymummy- you could send a gift or a card via amazon.com. I have friends in the UK and I've purchased from amazon.co.uk and sent items with local shipping

thankyou for that I will check that out

Hi, Everyone,

First, thanks to everyone who has donated and offered to help. I appreciate it, and I know that the families who have asked for help do, too.

Unfortunately, I have decided that I need to close the program to any more requests for help for this year, due to a lack of donors. At this point I have four families who have asked for help and I don't have anyone to match them with. Because of this, I decided to move the deadline for requests up, so I won't be accepting any more requests for help at this point.

If for some reason I suddenly get a lot of people who want to sponsor families, then I'll open it up for requests again, but seeing the response I've received so far I don't want to have anyone relying on that.

Thanks again to anyone who has already donated, and if anyone else would like to donate to one of the remaining families please let me know. I only had requests from 10 families this year, so it wasn't a huge number, and any donation, including small-denomination gift cards, are appreciated.

This is my final request, so breathe easy...I only have ONE family who hasn't been helped at all, so if anyone is able to donate ANY AMOUNT I'd appreciate it.

AIn need of Emergency Secret Santa.... I have a client (retired veteran)that lost their home and both jobs last week. What $ was supposed to go to kids gifts last minute now has to be paid for another place to live! I'm donating a few items to help they have a five year old boy...who loves racing cars fishing and wrestling....and an 11 yr old girl who loves art crafts music and playing her violin. Please PM me for shipping address. Thank you in advance for the help!