Over 400 families in need, waiting for Christmas adoptions

By Chris Fortune

Many families are still seeking assistance in finding the perfect gift in the days leading up to Christmas.

The AFL-CIO Adopt-A-Family Christmas Program has 893 families enrolled, and 447 families have already been adopted, but more than 400 still need help.

“Last year we had a lot of adopters who would adopt two or three households, and we’re getting a lot of single-family adoptions, but every adoption helps,” Executive Director Nichi Seckinger said. “So as long as they’re adopting, we’re happy.”

After having 135 adopters for the program last year, 190 have stepped up to adopt families this year. However, funding for the program is falling short after a printing issue resulted in the AFL-CIO holiday newsletter hitting mailboxes three weeks late.

Many donors still use envelopes sent in the newsletter to make their donations to the program.

“We went three weeks without seeing a lot of donations coming in, and we are still behind the curve on that,” Seckinger said. “We’re actually $45,000 behind what we were at this time last year, so that’s troublesome.”

The donations help cover in-house adoptions where families who are not adopted can choose gifts from a gift room. The gift room will open to those families on Wednesday, Dec. 18.

AFL-CIO workers will start calling families in to find gifts in the gift room, which helps lower the number of families who need to be adopted.

“People can still help a lot because we always need items for the gift room to replenish what’s going out,” Seckinger said. “Again, monetary donations help at that time because it helps supplement the gift cards and helps cover the cost of the program.”

Monetary donations and toys can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at the AFL-CIO at 1203 N. Sixth St.

“Any kind of help at all, we are willing to take it because it all adds up, and it adds up a lot faster than people realize,” Seckinger said.