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What You Can Do to Help Homeless Children at Christmas

© Bea Sheftel

Many people have asked me how they can help homeless children at Christmas. I have information from various charitable organizations. This should give you some ideas as to how you can help. Check your local area for organizations such as Lions, Elks, Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army, Council of Churches and see what they are doing for homeless kids.

Homeless Children's Christmas Party

The Young Lawyers Section of the ACBA hosts an annual Homeless Children's Christmas Party at various homeless and battered women shelters. Local attorneys deliver gifts and cookies to disadvantaged children of the Greater Pittsburgh area.

Members of the ACBA donate cookies. In cooperation with the Salvation Army they take an Angel card from the Christmas Tree. This contains a request from a child with the child's name and age. The lawyers buy the gift and return it to the Salvation Army to be distributed.

There is also a group who call themselves Santa Claus. These are members of the Young Lawyers section. They hold a "wrap-up" party to wrap the gifts. They then deliver them to local homeless shelters.

Children at these shelters will have their pictures taken and sing Christmas carols with Santa. It is a delightful time for the children as well as the lawyers who participate. This is sponsored by the Allegheny County Bar Association in Pennsylvania. For information call (412) 261-6161 or send us an email at news@acba.org.

Boston's Christmas in the City

This Boston area charitable program started in 1989. Their mission is to support Boston's homeless families. At first they worked to make the hollidays special for the children in shelters. Then they expanded and included helping families tomake a transition from homelessness to independent living.

This group has no paid employees. Everything donated goes directly to helping the families and the children. I wish more organizations could rely on volunteers instead of high paid fund raisers, and other administrative workers.

According to their web site, "The idea of Christmas in the City was formulated by John "Jake" and Patricia "Sparky" Kennedy." They wanted their children to learn about children less fortunate. They also had fund raising skills to make this group viable. Their offices are in the center of Boston's financial district which is the perfect location for them to help the homeless in the city. They had easy access to both potential volunteers and contributors.

Their first party served 165 children and parents. Each child was asked to tell a volunteer one special gift they wanted. This was purchased so each child got exactly what they requested.The group didn't just hand out the gifts, but had a party complete with Santa, entertainment and a holiday meal.

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