Foster mom works to bring Christmas to six children
The season of giving can be a rewarding experience but also a taxing one.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Maria, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. Maria is working off one income and taking care of two of her own adopted children in addition to fostering four others.
“I adopted two children and two are in pre-adoption. The rest are waiting to go back home,” she explained. “Everything is tight. Normally the agencies help with Christmas but a lot of the agencies cancelled.”
Maria explained that she began fostering kids when she was living in Philadelphia.
“I’ve got a gang of my own. They used to bring their friends to the house and I took in a lot of kids living in Philadelphia. It was a lot of kids. A friend of mine was telling me how to take kids in and suggested I be a foster mom,” she said.
While fostering children comes with its own expenses at all times of the year, it becomes even more difficult around the holidays.
“A lot of the kids come in and they have absolutely nothing. I have to start with zero with getting clothes and shoes and coats. They don’t have anything,” she said. “The agencies, Christmas isn’t a big thing to them. The big thing is just getting them shelter and a good home. A lot of foster parents don’t celebrate Christmas. Some of the kids never even had Christmas.”
Because every child deserves a happy holiday, Operation Holiday is stepping in.
Now in its 28th year, Operation Holiday has provided a brighter holiday season to thousands of families with children. Last year more than $42,000 in donations allowed the program to provide food and gifts for 147 families with 412 children in need.
The program was created and exists for children. The mission of Operation Holiday is to ensure that children of the Pottstown area have food to eat and gifts to open, no matter how poor or difficult their family situation may be.
There is no overhead with Operation Holiday and all funds stay in the Pottstown area. Families are referred by more than 20 local agencies and churches.
Funds are collected and audited in a non-profit foundation account managed by staff of The Mercury.
Food, which includes the fixings for a holiday dinner as well as staples for the pantry, is ordered, bought, packed and distributed by Mercury employees and Pottstown High School student government volunteers.
Gift cards for every child in the program 16 years of age or younger are purchased through Boscov’s and distributed in partnership with the referring agencies.
Operation Holiday does not accept families who have not been referred by an agency in order to protect the integrity of the program.
Operation Holiday is funded solely by readers’ contributions. All contributions are tax deductible.
Contributions should be mailed to The Mercury, Attn: Operation Holiday, 390 Eagleview Blvd.,Exton, PA 19341. Make checks payable to Operation Holiday.