FESCO Brings Holiday Cheer to Families in Need This Season

Buying presents for the holiday is a strain on many parents, even those who have jobs and regular incomes.  Children see tempting advertisements for the latest toys, electronics, and clothing their friends have.  For families who are struggling or living in a shelter, and are working toward goals that will enable them to move from the shelter or current situation to their own rental house or apartment, it’s doubly difficult to provide those things on their child’s Wish List.

Families who are part of FESCO, the Family Shelter and La Familia, family non-profits both headquartered in Hayward, are fortunate to have help with this dilemma. They are able to give assistance through a program that the non-profits have sponsored for a number of years.

Their Adopt-a-Family Program pairs families who need help buying holiday gifts for their family with individuals, organizations, churches and businesses who “adopt” the family.  The family provides a Wish List with the ages, sizes, and suggested gifts for members of the family (there’s a dollar limit), and the “adoptive buyer” uses the suggestions to buy them, wrap the gifts and turn them over to FESCO/La Familia by early December. This season, we are gathering gift cards to provide extra support for those in need. Your generous contributions will help ensure that individuals have access to the essentials and experience a little extra joy during the holiday season.

If you’re a community member who would like to support this program, you can contact FESCO or La Familia at Alramirez@livelafamilia.org or mail a gift card to 24301 Southland Drive, Suite 300, Hayward, CA 94545.

The deadline for participating in Adopt-a-Family is: Friday, December 13

FESCO is a Family Shelter, founded in 1986, which provides a wide range of resources for families with children including shelter, meals, case management, family counseling, classes for parents and children and employment assistance. La Familia is a full-service non-profit with a wide range of programs for families, youth, veterans, foster youth and individuals.