Redwood Community Services toy drive underway in Ukiah
With Christmas just a few days away, the holiday gift-giving spirit is in full swing. At Redwood Community Services , an organization that runs programs and services for vulnerable people in Mendocino and Lake counties, the Foster Family Agency Program is in the middle of its Holiday Wishes drive to provide presents during the holidays for youth in foster care.
Holiday Wishes gives people throughout the community the chance to bring in Christmas gift donations for foster youth. RCS receives a combination of monetary donations and already bought gifts, but many people who donate like to receive a list with the presents kids want so they can go out and buy them. Older kids usually want gift cards or wireless headphones, and bikes and scooters are always popular requests.
People who buy presents bring them to one of the RCS offices in Mendocino or Lake counties. Once they are dropped off, RCS staff wrap them and deliver them to all their kids in time for Christmas. Anybody who wants more information about the program can go to the Redwood Community Services website. https://redwoodcommunityservices.org
RCS public relations officer Angie Bakker says that some of the kids don’t have family around or don’t usually get presents during this time of year, so providing gifts to the kids is a boost to them during the holidays.
“It’s just a great way for us to make our youth have a normal Christmas just like everybody else,” Bakker said.
RCS receives lots of donated gifts from people and organizations throughout the local community as part of the gift drive. St. Mary of the Angels Catholic School, George & Ruth Bradford Foundation, McCarty’s Auto Body, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, Selzer Realty, Redwood Ford, Ken Fowler, Jerry Beebe, Remax Real Estate, ER Energy and Cabinet Werks have all donated presents this year for foster youth.
For the past few years, St. Mary of the Angels in Ukiah has kept a giving tree in the front lobby of the school with gift requests from RCS on behalf of the foster kids. Students and their families then choose foster kids and purchase Christmas presents. On average, the school fosters about 40 kids, which is about 80 to 120 presents. Once the students and parents bring in the gifts, school parent Kristi Ross collects the donations and delivers them to the RCS offices unwrapped.
“I thought it was a wonderful way for our children to focus on giving and generosity rather than their Christmas wish list during the holiday,” Ross said. “It’s also important for the children to realize how fortunate they are and how they can help those less fortunate.”
RCS sends Ross a list ahead of time with initials, ages and a top three presents on their wishlist. Ross said that her children love to go shopping for gifts for foster kids in the lead up to Christmas. Part of the reason her family got involved was that her brother and sister-in-law fostered a child and then adopted him. Hearing about their journey made participating in the program important to her and her family.
“It’s a lot of fun for them, and it’s bringing in that giving spirit,” Ross said.
