As the holidays approach, the Salvation Army’s Santa Clarita Valley Corps is seeking community members to adopt local families and senior citizens who otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to celebrate the holidays.
Michele Ewing and Rebecca Berens have been coordinating the Adopt-a-Family program for the Salvation Army for nearly 25 years. But this year, due to the pandemic, it’s been more difficult than ever before.
“COVID threw us really hard this year as far as trying to figure out how we were going to do this,” Ewing said. “Due to COVID this year, we lost three main resources that helped us get these families adopted out in our community.”
With Christmas only a little over a week away, Adopt-a-Family coordinators are down to the wire to find community members willing to adopt out the remaining families and seniors.
“So far, we have been able to get 175 families adopted out,” Ewing added. “This is approximately 375 kids we have helped, and we have (approximately 40) seniors that have been adopted out.”
Even so, there are still around 50 families, with at least 120 kids, as well as a handful of seniors, who have not been adopted out.
“We’re still a little worried about (finding donors) because sometimes it’s the only gift they get, and a lot of them are low income and are struggling because they’ve lost their jobs due to COVID,” Ewing said. “We’re just trying to do whatever we can to give everybody a good Christmas.”
Those interested in adopting a family or senior typically receive a wish list, or are asked to purchase an age-appropriate gift if a list is not specified. It is up to the donor as to how much they want to spend and how many gifts they purchase.
Those interested in adopting a family or senior can email Adopt-a-Family coordinators at [email protected].
