Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, December 14, 2008.
Adopt-A-Family (AAF) is a popular project during the holiday gift-giving season. Its essence is for people to provide presents to low-income families, especially the children. Various community organizations screen applicants, then qualifying families fill out profiles regarding household members, sex, age, clothing sizes and wish lists. This info is forwarded to the groups and individuals who “adopt the family”.
I participated in it intermittently for more than a decade, mostly through the Newport Beach Junior Chamber (NBJCs or Newport Jaycees). Unfortunately the NBJC’s Project AAF had been dormant for the last few years but I successfully pushed the group to restart it, getting over 25 participants to adopt 5 families.
Although I was a big advocate in resuming AAF, I did not want to be the chairperson. Nevertheless I was active in the project committee and even opened my home for use. In the past we were able to delivery the presents directly to the families. But now gifts were dropped off at a distribution center, eliminating the human interaction, especially the sparkle in kids’ faces when seeing all the presents. To fill the void, I suggested and offered to host a “wrap party” where participants can wrap up the gifts as well as wrap up the project.
Like last year I planned to decorate my home for the holidays and the wrap party gave more reason to do so. The event was on Sunday and I spent several nights after work decking the halls. On Tuesday I put up the tree complete with lights and ornaments, on Wednesday I put up the outdoor lights and on Thursday I put up indoor lights throughout the first floor – living room, dining room, kitchen and staircase. Did I go overboard? Let’s just say sunglasses required and sunscreen recommended.
As if all this was not enough, I even baked! I made a red velvet cake for the first time and the results were okay while the strawberry cake was a bit better. I also made two cheesecakes both with white chocolate chips, one top with blueberries, and was pleased with them.
The wrap party was lively and well attended. Participants were told to bring gift-wrapping supplies as my own stock would be far from sufficient. After clean-up the leftover paper, ribbons, boxes and tape exceeded what I had before. As for the number of presents, this week’s photo shows just a sampling of the Adopt-A-Family gifts underneath my Christmas tree, clear proof that generosity remains strong, recession or not, and I say “Amen” to that.
Angelo
Photo taken on Sunday, December 14, 2008.
Adopt-A-Family (AAF) is a popular project during the holiday gift-giving season. Its essence is for people to provide presents to low-income families, especially the children. Various community organizations screen applicants, then qualifying families fill out profiles regarding household members, sex, age, clothing sizes and wish lists. This info is forwarded to the groups and individuals who “adopt the family”.
I participated in it intermittently for more than a decade, mostly through the Newport Beach Junior Chamber (NBJCs or Newport Jaycees). Unfortunately the NBJC’s Project AAF had been dormant for the last few years but I successfully pushed the group to restart it, getting over 25 participants to adopt 5 families.
Although I was a big advocate in resuming AAF, I did not want to be the chairperson. Nevertheless I was active in the project committee and even opened my home for use. In the past we were able to delivery the presents directly to the families. But now gifts were dropped off at a distribution center, eliminating the human interaction, especially the sparkle in kids’ faces when seeing all the presents. To fill the void, I suggested and offered to host a “wrap party” where participants can wrap up the gifts as well as wrap up the project.
Like last year I planned to decorate my home for the holidays and the wrap party gave more reason to do so. The event was on Sunday and I spent several nights after work decking the halls. On Tuesday I put up the tree complete with lights and ornaments, on Wednesday I put up the outdoor lights and on Thursday I put up indoor lights throughout the first floor – living room, dining room, kitchen and staircase. Did I go overboard? Let’s just say sunglasses required and sunscreen recommended.
As if all this was not enough, I even baked! I made a red velvet cake for the first time and the results were okay while the strawberry cake was a bit better. I also made two cheesecakes both with white chocolate chips, one top with blueberries, and was pleased with them.
The wrap party was lively and well attended. Participants were told to bring gift-wrapping supplies as my own stock would be far from sufficient. After clean-up the leftover paper, ribbons, boxes and tape exceeded what I had before. As for the number of presents, this week’s photo shows just a sampling of the Adopt-A-Family gifts underneath my Christmas tree, clear proof that generosity remains strong, recession or not, and I say “Amen” to that.
Angelo
