A strong weekend gets Adopt-A-Family closer to their goal
By Kyle Schmidt
The AFL-CIO Community Services for St. Joseph had a weekend for the books as more and more donations and adoptions get them ever closer to hitting their Adopt-A-Family goal.
The AFL-CIO’s goal is to get all 893 families taken care of before Christmas Day and it is within reach as just 42 families are left to take care of. Executive Director of the AFL-CIO — Nichi Seckinger is happy with this final push.
“Its funny how people will rally,” Seckinger said. “We’re hearing from adopters that we’ve not heard from for a couple of years. Some adopters I don’t remember them ever adopting before. Some businesses have come forward and are making donations to help cover the cost of gift cards and things like that so it’s really remarkable what people are willing to do.”
Of those leftover families, she estimates 37 will go into the gift room on Monday, Dec. 23 and Tuesday, Dec. 24, which will leave just five to seven families to get taken care of.
“A lot made it through our gift room this year,” She said. “A lot more than what I thought we were going to get through the gift room.”
Some families that missed the deadline to sign up have been added to a waitlist if there’s extra gifts in the gift room after all adopted families are taken care of.
Seckinger said they are in better shape this year with families then last year. They are in good shape with scheduling the families to receive their gifts. She said for families that have not contacted those they are adopting to do so.
“Let the families know that they’re coming for sure,” She said. “It just creates so much anxiety for these families to not find out until the very last minute.”
Those who have not heard anything from their adopters or from the AFL-CIO, to call Community Services at 816-364-1131.
“I’m feeling pretty confident,” Seckinger said. “We’ve had some more donations come in for the gift room and we’ve had a couple of calls. We do have people coming with items for the gift room so that’s fantastic.”
