Charity trio works so all families have a Christmas
Images linger in my head.
Teens for whom Christmas is the toughest day of the year. Their peers may be showered with gifts, but their parents (often one parent or guardian) can’t give them a thing.
Kids — for that is what teens are — who just wish Christmas would go away, because it hurts too much.
Think of their families. So many different situations for the parents or guardians — newly arrived immigrants, single parents, recently laid-off, disabled and unable to work. They all love their children but struggle to make ends meet.
That’s why it is so easy to ask you, in this season of giving, to support The Edmonton Sun’s Adopt-A-Teen program and our sister Christmas charities — The Christmas Bureau of Edmonton and Santas Anonymous.
Started by the Edmonton Sun in 1999, Adopt-A-Teen provides Christmas gifts for 13- to 17-yearolds living in underprivileged families.
With your support, each teen will receive a $50 Walmart gift card. Adopt-A-Teen’s goal is to deliver gift cards to the 6,000 teens living in families registered with the Christmas Bureau.
The Christmas Bureau is a 78-year-old Edmonton institution, ensuring every family in Edmonton, no matter their economic circumstances, can celebrate Christmas with a festive meal.
The Christmas Bureau mails out Sobeys/Safeway grocery gift cards or its volunteers deliver a box of Christmas-themed food to eligible families. The goal this year is to raise $1.5 million to provide food for 15,000 under-privileged families.
CHED’s Santas Anonymous is another Edmonton institution. Started in 1963, Santas Anonymous provides age-appropriate gifts for every less-than-privileged child in Edmonton, from toddlers to 12-year-olds. Next weekend, Dec. 15 and 16, hundreds of you will volunteer to be Santa, delivering gifts to the homes of 25,000 children in low-income families.
It’s quite something. Working closely together, these three agencies ensure that no child, teen or family is forgotten at Christmas.
Every year, the Christmas Bureau builds a database of all the families needing assistance.
Santa’s Anonymous and AdoptA-Teen use the Christmas Bureau list to determine the families with children and teens that need help. (The Edmonton Sun’s Adopt-ATeen program is actually administered by the Christmas Bureau.)
Credit card donations can be made online at Christmasbureau. ca, santasanonymous.ca (click on ‘get involved’) and adoptateenedmonton.ca.
Santas Anonymous has hundreds of donation boxes for children’s gifts all over the city. The Santas Anonymous website will tell you what’s most needed and other vital gift-giving information.
Cash or cheques for The Christmas Bureau and Adopt-A-Teen can be dropped off at donation desks in the Bonnie Doon, Kingsway, Londonderry, Southgate and Commerce Place shopping centres.
Cheques for the Christmas Bureau or Adopt-A-Teen can also be mailed c/o The Christmas Bureau, PO Box 16000, Edmonton, AB T5J 4B4. To donate by phone, please call 780-454-6074 during office hours.
If families need assistance, please go to the Christmas Bureau website home page. Have them click on the “need help” button. Easy-to-understand directions are provided.
Thank you for helping our city’s less-than-fortunate families, kids and teens.