COMPACT Christmas to provide gifts for Hillcrest
As the holiday season inches closer, local individuals, businesses and organizations are seeking ways to provide some holiday cheer to those in need.
Hillcrest Children’s Home, 2325 Malvern Ave., is accepting donations to help provide a Christmas celebration for its children through the COMPACT Christmas program. Hillcrest has hosted Christmas since 1944.
According to the Compact Family Services website, Hillcrest Children’s Home is a private Christian residence for children who have been abused, neglected or sexually exploited. They
provide children with balanced diets, clothing, and medical, dental and eye checkups. Currently, Hillcrest houses 54 children ranging from 1-21 in age.
COMPACT provides a full list of information that donors may need while purchasing items. Necessities include hygiene items, undergarments and diapers. A complete COMPACT Christmas Packet with letter, wish list and Q&A forms are accessible at http://www.compactfamilyservices.org/news-and-events/ events-compact-christmas.
Similar to the Angel Tree project, donors are able to select a child to fulfill their wish list. The most popular gifts requested this year are Apple products, The North Face jackets, and skateboards.
“People really tend to lean toward buying for the younger kids,” said Richelle Wingo, projects and publications coordinator. “So at Christmastime, we have an abundance of gifts that would be adequate for any child 10 and under. And it’s a lot harder for us to fill the wish lists of our kids that are older.”
Unwrapped gifts will be accepted through Friday, Dec. 12, and can be dropped off in the office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. Monetary donations will also be accepted, and can be mailed to Hillcrest Children’s Home or made online. The donations will assist COMPACT in purchasing the items on the children’s wish lists.
“Some gift cards will be utilized for kids that may come in a few days before Christmas,” Wingo said.
Hillcrest offers families the ability to host a child over the holidays and invite them into their home. But, not all children are able to stay with a host or their biological family during the holidays.
“We also reserve a few gifts back just in case we have kids that had not been able to go anywhere with a host family,” Wingo said. “So on Christmas Day, we give those kids a few more gifts to open to give them that extra Christmas. That’s the hardest day for a lot of the kids because they realize that they aren’t with mom and dad.”
Gift cards to restaurants, Wal-Mart, Target, T.J. Maxx, and JCPenny, and Visa cards are used to assist with purchasing any items not bought for a child’s wish list. The week of the Christmas celebration, Dec. 14-18, volunteer opportunities will be available to assist with the shopping trip to complete the wish lists and wrapping of presents.
The Christmas celebrations will be held on Saturday, Dec. 19. Each cottage, starting with the youngest children, has a Christmas party. Their cottage house parents may read them a Christmas story, serve cookies and hot chocolate, tell the nativity story and unwrap presents. People can send cookies and treats to Hillcrest to provide for the Christmas celebrations.
“We invite the house parents to make sure this is the biggest Christmas party these kids have ever had,” Wingo said.
Donors will receive a tax-deductible receipt and a “thank you” letter to be mailed out after the first of the year. An address needs to be provided, but should not be written directly on the gift. To select a specific child or to volunteer, donors can email rwingo@agfsa.org.