"Adopt-a-Family," Beyond the Giving Tree

Tina Namian, H&SA Rep to the Parish

You may have noticed at church this weekend, that there has been a change in the Giving Tree. In past years, you would have seen many different styles of gift tags on the trees with gifts going to more than 20 different area agencies. While we were able to provide many gifts to each group (around 1500 total each year), we were not able to meet the full need for most of the groups. This year, there has been an effort to refocus the Giving Tree on fewer groups that primarily serve the homeless (the issue chosen by the Social Justice Committee as a parish-wide focus for this year). The hope is that a more focused approach will allow us to make a bigger impact. The new coordinators also have made standard gift tags that provide a more uniform look to the trees. They are calling the project this year Giving Tree and Beyond.

Part of the "and Beyond" includes HTS. The new parish Giving Tree coordinators have asked HTS, the Religious Education classes, and the Young Adult Community to take on a bigger role in this parish-wide comunity service project. In the past, the HTS Student Council has made generic tags that they placed on a tree in the Upper School. Instead, this year, each class has been assigned one or more families that they will "adopt" for the holidays.

The families are all involved with a group called Hope and a Home (see http://www.hopeandahome.org/). Hope and a Home, which was previously part of For Love of Children, operates 18 affordable apartments in the Columbia Heights neighborhood and works with residents living in subsidized housing in the Shaw neighborhood. The mission of Hope and a Home is to enable parents and children to achieve permanent housing, educational success, rewarding work, and family stability.

HTS has been provided with the Christmas gift wish lists for the children of the families living in the Columbia Heights apartments. The HSA reps have the lists for the families assigned to their classes. Through the Room Parents, the HSA reps will communicate with the parents regarding each classes' particular plans. This year, we decided to keep it simple and suggest that one or two parents be responsible for shopping for the gifts and the other parents and children donate money towards the gifts. Each class will have a box for monetary donations and children are encouraged to donate some of their own money.

It is very important that the students be involved and feel that they are a part of this project. As part of our emphasis on social justice, this gives children a chance to think about families in our city that may not be as fortunate as our own. The children can be personally involved in this project by donating part of their allowance, helping to wrap the gifts, making holiday decorations for the families, shopping for gifts with their parents, and talking with their parent about these families. Hopefully, many other great ideas for involving the students will come out of the next two weeks.

Project due dates:
Monetary donations are due to each classroom by December 11.
The gifts must be purchased, wrapped, and brought to school by December 18.

I will be following this blog throughout the month to answer any questions. Please feel free to share ideas for classes, reps and parents!