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.
