Cameron County Christmas Gift Program
Hi everyone!
We have had some questions about what exactly this program is, so we wanted to be transparent and share more about the program and some ways it might look a little different this year.
The Cameron County Christmas Gift Program typically serves 70-80 families in our community each year (that's about 175+ children). We do not currently have an income limit for the program because we understand that although families may have decent paying jobs, sometimes life happens and providing presents for your children may just seem impossible. That being said, we send application information to the Food Bank and the Assistance Office knowing that is where most families in need will be reached. Once we receive the application, we add the children's wish lists to tags that are hung on trees throughout businesses downtown (the banks, the grocery store, the Chamber, the Post Office, and the Courthouse as well as the Catholic Church). Members of the community are then able to purchase gifts from these tags and then return them for us to collect, sort, and distribute to the families. Once we receive all the gifts, we try to make sure each child within a family has a similar amount of gifts (typically in terms of similar cost rather than number of items). If a tag was not purchased for, we then use donations to purchase more gifts to make sure each child receives a decent amount.
In full transparency, last year was tough. We all are feeling the effects of rising prices. We had a record number of families and children served (which is awesome that we were able to help so many our community), but only approximately half of the tags were purchased for, so we had to spend about $6,000 of our donation money (more than was raised last year) to fulfill the rest of the tags. Unfortunately, this is just not sustainable. We want to continue serving the community as long as possible, so we have been trying to brainstorm ideas to bring more funds in this year. Therefore, things may look a little different.
We will be creating an Amazon Wishlist that will be shared at the beginning of November, so if you are like me and don't make it to the store to actually shop very often, or if you live out of town, you can still contribute to the program. We are hopeful this will really help fulfill all the tags this year.
Also, on the Christmas trees downtown, we will be adding not only the tags with kids' wish lists, but also options to donate via check or Venmo. Please remember that the wish lists are just that, wish lists, and not every item on the tag needs to be purchased. It is just an idea of what the children are interested in.
To families that need assistance for Christmas this year, if you did not receive the application from the Food Bank (another paper will be placed in next week's boxes) or the Assistance Office, reach out if needed. We will be in contact by the end of the month with information on when and where to pick up gifts this year.
Thanks for your time reading this lengthy post!
We hope to have a really successful 2025 season!
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