What you need to know:
  • The holiday season can be stressful for some families with financial needs
  • Adopt-A-Family is a holiday program where families get paired with sponsors to purchase personalized Christmas gifts.
  • You can help families in need this holiday season by volunteering or participating in holiday food and toy drives

During the holiday season most families focus on getting that perfect gift for the special people in their lives. For some families in your community that may be difficult due to a variety of reasons.

"People with no fault of their own are struggling and especially now with the pandemic and everything being so expensive."
— Stacy Wiedeman, a social worker at Community Missions.

According to a survey released by the U.S Department of Labor, 5.8 million people were unemployed at the time and 1.4 million persons reported they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic. With so many people unemployed, the holidays may be challenging for families struggling financially.


So, whether you want to give back to your community or learn how to adopt a family for Christmas, the holiday season is the ideal time to spread some cheer and help families in need.

3 ways to help this holiday season

1. Become a sponsor for the Adopt-A-Family program


The Adopt-A-Family program pairs sponsors with families in financial needs to purchase personalized Christmas gifts. Community Missions is one of the many organizations that provides this type of program to their community. 


“The way it works is people can sign up online, or they are referred by either a social worker, family member or a friend that knows that there’s a need and they are later called by one of the volunteers in order to get some required information including wish lists,”

- Stacy says


Once the wish lists are received, they get sent to the sponsor, who will then purchase a gift for each child as well as a grocery gift card for the family's holiday meal. The staff later schedules appointments with the families in order to ensure that the gifts are received before Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve.


Adopting a family for Christmas is an incredible way to inspire a sense of giving in your families and others. 


“This is very much like a grounding exercise and wonderful as well, because I can bring my kids along to go shopping and bring some happiness and hope to some people that we don't really know during the holidays,”

- Christian says

2. Participate in holiday food and toy drives


Every holiday season Community Missions provides holiday meals to families living in the food pantry district. Without the donations from the community and other organizations such as FeedMore WNY, this would not be possible. These donations ensure that every family that visits the program has everything they need for the holidays. If you would like to take part in a holiday food drive, consider donating turkeys, hams, chickens, stuffing, instant potatoes, or canned vegetables.  


Holiday toy drive is another great way to help kids in need experience a joyful holiday. Some families that are going through financial hardship finds it very difficult to sometimes buy gifts for their children. Your donation will help organizations and several kids by providing them with all sorts of Christmas toys. Programs like this helps families enjoy Christmas, without having to put themselves in a deeper state of poverty. 

3. Volunteer at holiday help programs 


There's no better way to celebrate the holidays than by giving back. Your local soup kitchen, food pantry or food bank rely on volunteers to help make the holidays special for families in need. Whether it’s serving meals on Christmas Day or preparing holiday meal boxes, you can make a difference. 


For those interested in helping out this holiday season, know that a small gesture goes a long way. For more information contact Kathy Chase at 716-285-3403 x. 2225.

"It makes you feel really good to know that maybe you can make somebody’s day a little better"

—Stacy says