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CACS gears up for Christmas Wishes program
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Saturday, October 11, 2008 9:07 PM EDT
OWOSSO - Even though Christmas is a little more than two months away, it is never too early to get into the giving spirit.
Capital Area Community Services, Inc. (CACS) is now accepting applications for its 17th annual Christmas Wishes program for families in need during the holidays.
The CACS received a record number of applications last year, with about 410 families receiving donations, CACS Center Coordinator Becky Zelma said.
And this year, CACS expects even more.
“I think there is a lot of economic reasons that play into it - such as the price of fuel,” Zelma said. “The families that we adopt out are low income and are making minimum wage or just above. So, the economic situation has fed into it a lot.”
CACS began taking applications from Oct. 1 and will continue to until Oct. 31.
When applying for the program, people must also bring in proof of income. To receive donations, an applicant must be within 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines and reside in Shiawassee County.
“However, most of our people fall much lower than that,” Zelma said. “We have some households are single mothers with only one child that are only making $3 or $5 thousand a year.”
They are also asked to fill out “wishes” or put down hobbies so the donors have ideas on what to buy.
“We ask that the wishes not be extravagant. I don't like to see more than a $20 wish,” Zelma said. “Even $20 is a lot of money for everybody now.”
Sometimes getting enough adopters can be a difficulty - especially in these economic times, she said.
According to Zelma, there were about 130 adopters last year with many taking on multiple families.
“Over the last three years, the number of adopters have dropped,” Zelma said. “I don't know if (the economy) is all of it, but it definitely plays a part.”
Once donors buy the presents for a family and wrap them, they have the option to either drop off the presents personally or give them to CACS to deliver.
But not only can families get in on the adopting, many businesses in the area help as well.
For example, employees at the Centel Credit Union in Corunna have what they call a “dress down” fund. Every Friday co-workers can come to work in casual clothing as long as they donate $2 to the fund, Branch Manager Kim Reed said.
“Every year we donate to different causes and one of that is always helping a family in need during Christmas,” Reed said. “We like giving back to the community and the staff gets really excited about it.”
Also, for the first time last year, the employees at Cerveny Jewelers decided, in place of exchanging gifts with co-workers, that they would adopt a family instead. Workers there said it was a much more rewarding experience.
“Normally, when we do our gift exchange at the store we have a set monetary amount that we don't go over,” Karen Bump, a salesperson, said. “But when we donated to the family, we went crazy.”
Call CACS at 723-3115 to adopt a family.
- Contact Michael Peterson at 725-5136 extension 223 or mpetersonarguspress@gmail.com.
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DJ wrote on Oct 15, 2008 1:01 PM:
