November 16th the Official Date
Unity House staff and volunteers are busy planning for one of our biggest annual undertakings: the Adopt a Child program that helps provide gifts to over 1,300 children across Unity House programs. This tremendous undertaking would not be possible without the support of the many individuals, families, churches, service organizations and local businesses. Many thanks to our families, friends and groups that come back again and again to help.
Each in their own way, these individuals and groups help with ‘adopting’ of individual children by donating toys, games, books, coats, and pajamas. Some provide gift cards in the amount of $25 to convenient stores so children can pick out their own gifts- this is particularly helpful for tweens and teens, who are notoriously tricky to shop for. Or some people donate funds so that Unity House can pick up specific gifts to meet specific needs. In addition, by partnering with neighboring non-profit CEO, Unity House is able to open a pop up holiday boutique filled with donated gifts collected in toy drives. In this space, parents are afforded the dignity and choice of picking out a gift they know their child will like (and use!).
How to Help
Contact Mandy at (518) 274-2607 ext.4139 and ask about adopting a child. She can tell you how to ‘adopt’ an individual child: our social workers sit down with parents with children enrolled in Unity House programs and map out two wants and needs. For example, you might receive a list for a household with two children, ages 6 and 4. The girl wants books and a board game, she needs snow pants and underwear. The boy wants dinosaurs and legos, he needs a coat and pajamas. One can expect to spend no more than $25 per gift. Of course, some people want to include a gift for the parent as well. In that case, we recommend a gift card to a store like Price Chopper or Target. You can specify how many children you want to ‘adopt’ or start from how much you want to spend.
If adopting of specific children is not your style, you can also go shopping in the toy aisle or host a toy drive and bring your treasure to us. We’ll put it in the ‘store’ for parents to choose from, we’ll use those toys to supplement areas where we’ve come up short or have the wrong sized item. Each donation we receive goes to a family in need who want to provide the best holiday they can for their child. For gift giving ideas for your toy drive, please check out this list:
Ripples of Giving
No matter how you contribute to our Adopt a Child program, know that your support is helping put the sparkle in the holidays for a child in need. We’ve seen the impact this program has- on both the giver and the receiver. It truly is the most wonderful time of year in so many ways.
Again, many thanks to those who help with the Unity House Adopt a Child program. We could not do it without you!