Adopt a Family helps fulfill Christmas wishes of needy Delaware children

A New Castle County mother of four is struggling to pay the bills after the children’s father was injured in a debilitating car accident.

 “Christmas gifts are unfortunately out of reach for this mom.” said Lisa Johnson, New Castle County coordinator of Delaware’s Adopt a Family program.

Lisa is working to try and find the family a holiday sponsor, someone willing to provide gifts for the children while they get through this difficult time.

Unfortunately, this case is not unusual, there are hundreds of families in the state who are dealing with crises, which can make it hard to celebrate the holidays.

“We have situations where grandmothers are taking on children because the kid’s parents are incarcerated,” she explained. “We have families where the mother left the household due to domestic violence situations and they’re living in shelters now with their kids.”

In New Castle County alone, there are more than 760 children who still need to be “adopted” for the holiday.

In addition to children, Adopt a Family helps to provide Christmas gifts to disabled and elderly individuals who do not have family or receive visitors.

Through the Adopt a Family program, donors are given the “wish list” of a needy family or individual and are responsible for fulfilling the gifts.

This year, donors can go shop for families online.

“They can read the family circumstances and they can choose the family they would like to adopt,” Johnson explained. “Whatever their budget is, there’s a family.”

The Adopt a Family and the donor remain anonymous. Donors can purchase the gifts which are sent directly to the local Adopt a Family offices.

The deadline to adopt a family is Dec. 18, to ensure that needy families receive their gifts by Christmas.