You don’t need to look far to experience the warmth and kindness of over 200 donors as they provided holiday cheer to Family & Children’s Services’ (F&CS) families in need – 1,234 children and families were treated to an extraordinary surprise Christmas with gifts of clothes, bikes, toys, books, holiday meals and so much more through the annual F&CS Holiday Assistance program.
For so many F&CS clients, December is a month filled with difficult decisions. Many low- and no-income families want to give presents to their children and are tempted to skip paying bills in lieu of gifts. The Holiday Assistance program was created to help our neediest families with this type of holiday stress.
Donors had two ways to give: Adopt-a-Family or donate to the F&CS Santa Shop. This year, 4% more families were adopted, a program that matches individual and corporate donors to F&CS families in need. The way it works is that each F&CS caseworker and therapist identified just one client that is active in treatment and has more need of resource assistance. This year, 159 families were adopted, which equals to 752 people (a 4 percent increase) who received assistance.
Other F&CS families were helped through the F&CS “Santa Shop,” a place where caseworkers can provide help for their clients’ needs. One-hundred percent of donations are given to overburdened individuals in the form of 2,911 HUGS (hats, underwear, gloves and socks), 568 books, 236 coats and 2,269 toys, clothing, pajamas, games, small household items and grocery cards.
One company that makes a wonderful impression on F&CS clients each year is Humble Sons Bike Company. Through their “Bikes for Kids” campaign launched with K95.5 (Tulsa’s New Country Leader), radio personality Natalie Cash climbed the stairs of a 30-foot scaffolding in the west parking lot of Owasso High School and stayed until 1,910 bikes were collected for Tulsa area kids. F&CS received 280 bikes through the generosity of anonymous donors, Two Men and a Truck and the Burnstein Foundation. Children from F&CS’s Women in Recovery, Child Abuse and Trauma, Early Childhood Program, Children’s Mental Health and Comprehensive Home-Based Services received the bikes just in time for Christmas. Humble Sons have been donating bikes to F&CS children for 10 years.
The clients we serve are grateful to all donors who helped make the holidays warmer and brighter. We gratefully pause a wish you a warm and happy new year.
If you would like to help all year long, please consider making a donation to F&CS.