Adopt-A-Family
The Adopt-A-Family program partners families in need with community donors [individuals, families & businesses] at holiday time. Within Wellington County, there are many families, as well as teenagers living on their own, who are unable to afford the luxury of gifts and special treats during the holiday season.
Through the generosity of individual and corporate donors, we are able to provide gifts and food vouchers for individual family members and independent teens. The donors receive a list from their "adopted" family. They then purchase and deliver the unwrapped gifts to The Children's Foundation. We wrap and package them for delivery to the families. In 2007, we provided gifts to close to 1450 children and parents via the Adopt-A-Family program.
Donors receive a tax receipt for their donation of gifts, providing they submit receipts for their purchases.
Families are referred to the program by many social service agencies within Guelph and Wellington County. These families include independent-living teens, single moms and dads, children being raised by grandparents and the working poor.
Our donors include individuals, family groups, groups of friends or churches, service clubs, work peer groups and corporate offices. Donors have the option of "adopting" a small or large family, or instead, purchasing a large single item [such as a bicycle or crib] or providing store gift certificates, including grocery stores.
Volunteers are the backbone of the Adopt-A-Family program. They collect referrals and match them with donors. They send the donors details on their "adopted" family. They receive, wrap and package the gifts to go back out to the families and coordinate the pickup of the gifts by the social service agencies.
You can help make a child's holiday season by volunteering to wrap presents, by adopting a family or by donating cash, food vouchers, hydro vouchers or gift certificates.
For more details on referring a family or becoming a donor or volunteer, call 519-826-9551 or email aaf@childrensfoundation.org .
