Wow! That is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the generosity of our donors, volunteers, families, and friends this Christmas season.

When we set out to provide gifts for 105 children in foster care, 120 families in our Pregnancy & Parenting Support Program, and 14 moms and babies in our maternity shelter, we knew it was a big task. A task so big, that we couldn’t do it alone.

As we have years in the past, we kept with our “wish lists” for children in foster care. We were able to provide gifts for all of the children on our caseload, who were quickly “adopted” by donors and friends. Gifts, lovingly chosen for our children, were provided to foster families to make Christmas a little easier for families who are fostering. Thank you to all who adopted a family in foster care!

This year, for our Pregnancy & Parenting Support program, we decided to do things a little differently. Last year, we had 45 families in this program. This year, we had 120! Instead of wish lists, we decided to make each mom a basket of the most requested items: cleaning and household supplies. We put out a call for cleaning supplies, toilet paper, household items, and other things for moms to take care of their families. Our donors, friends, and families responded! We were absolutely overwhelmed with the number of donations we received. We were able to create and deliver baskets for our families this Christmas, which were much appreciated.

We kept with our tradition of taking our young moms out to dinner for their Christmas party. We called on our volunteers to watch the babies, and our moms got dressed up for a dinner at a local country club. Our board members generously donated the evening, where our moms dined on a nice meal and topped off the evening with hot chocolate and cookies. They opened presents for themselves and their babies, fulfilled by wish lists from our donors.

In addition to providing gifts for our clients, we are so thankful for all of the churches, schools, organizations, business, and families that made donations during this time. Countless corporate and individual volunteers gave of their time and energy to help us deliver, sort, wrap, and organize donations. We could not have done it without you!

Finally, we want to thank our staff members who work tirelessly behind the scenes – on top of their regular duties at Good Shepherd – who make Christmas possible for our clients. We are thankful for everyone who coordinates donations, accepts deliveries, unloads donations, drives all over town to pick them up, and does everything needed to make this possible for our clients. We thank you for your dedication to the people we serve and we are so appreciative of what you do!