It’s the season of giving and IFCS is ready to provide holiday cheer to those who need a little extra help this time of year!
After packing and distributing 500 seasonal food boxes at Fresh Thanks in late November, IFCS enters crunch time to finalize preparations for the annual Helping Hands for the Holidays gift distribution, which occurs just two weeks later in December.
Many contributors may be familiar with our previous adopt-a-family model, and how we adapted our program to be almost entirely virtual.
Distribution Model before 2020
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, IFCS asked interested families to visit our building to register their kids, ages ranging from newborn to high school senior, providing proof of need and guardianship. IFCS staff and volunteers would spend weeks registering over 500 kids.
Once registered, IFCS mailed the family profile to sponsors, including a wish list, clothing needs, and a drop-off day and time. The generous sponsor would then go shopping, often spending hundreds of dollars on their adopted family.
After the sponsor dropped off at their designated day and time, each family would be given a 4-hour window to pick up their gifts.
Behind the scenes, dozens of volunteers spent up to 2 weeks (1) accepting gifts, (2) quality checking that gifts were new, age appropriate, and non-religious, (3) communicating with families if the sponsor was running late, and (4) distributing gifts to hundreds of families. During that time, the entirety of IFCS’ office space was filled with gifts, clothing, and sheets of paper on the walls to keep everything organized.
2020 and Beyond
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, IFCS saw a need to adapt this program to fit within health and safety guidelines. This included scaling back, and moving all parts of the operation online.
Now, instead of registering families in person, IFCS asks families to register their newborn – 10-year old kids online, where they will select from pre-determined gift packages, which are different for each age group.
IFCS staff then confirms the provided address is within our service area, confirms age eligibility, and that the listed kids are registered in our database. Once all families register, a priority system is implemented, where first time families have higher priority over those who have used the program previously. Upwards of 300 kids are selected for sponsorship, which is often around 70% of the eligible applicants. In 2024, 353 kids from 188 families were selected for sponsorship.
Once the children are confirmed, IFCS orders quality gifts in bulk through Roonga, an online platform that provides a way to purchase bulk supplies through a wholesale vendor at a fraction of the cost. By mid-November, pallets of toys arrive at IFCS, and volunteers are ready to bring them inside and get to work (1) confirming inventory, (2) creating gift packages, and then (3) sorting into families.
Meanwhile, a volunteer enters each child into Roonga, where donors can then select one or more children to sponsor. The exact cost of sponsorship changes each year and varies based on the child’s age group and gift package, but a sponsor can expect to donate around $50 per sponsored child. The partnership with Roonga allows IFCS to lower the cost of sponsorship, so each donated dollar goes further.
After two months of preparation, the gifts are finally ready to distribute! In addition to gifts, each family receives a reusable shopping bag filled with fresh produce and other supplies to prepare multiple meals for the family during the week. Volunteers gather during the second week of December to create produce and snack bags for the sponsored kids and their families; the IFCS Team completes a final quality check of sorted gifts. Still more volunteers gather later that week to distribute gifts to all the registered families in a single day.
With this new and improved model, IFCS streamlines all aspects of gift distribution – from family registration, gift organization, sponsorship, and then the final distribution.
Parents and guardians go home and begin preparations for the holiday season with the donated gifts and food for their family, while IFCS invites donors to sponsor the children in the program. Sometimes the search for sponsors continues weeks after the actual gift distribution event. Because all gifts are bulk-ordered in time for a mid-December distribution, IFCS needs to pay for everything upfront, and hopes that generous sponsors will reimburse the cost of the gifts.
Our child sponsors and program supporters are truly “helping hands”; they are holiday heroes that make the Helping Hands for the Holidays program possible.
Some Words from Two of our Generous 2024 Sponsors
Brad Arnold
While new to IFCS, Brad Arnold has already shown his commitment to our programs. He became a volunteer and donor October 2024, and generously sponsored 20 kids for this year’s Helping Hands for the Holidays. He also had the opportunity to volunteer during the distribution event.
“[IFCS is] one of those organizations where it’s so tangible to see exactly where [money] is going,” Brad said. “[Staff] made clear me that the overhead is super low, so just about every dollar you’re contributing is going to help people. I think that’s a big sell to people.”
Brad and his wife have always made it a priority to give around the holidays.
“Driving in this morning listening to Christmas carols,” Brad said, “one of them is ‘The Happiest Time of Year,’ and I’m thinking, ‘You know what, not for everybody.’ No matter what the circumstances are, whether you’ve had a loved one die over the holidays and it’s just a painful time, or you’re struggling financially or emotionally or other things are going on, it can be a really tough time for a lot of people because you’re supposed to be happy this time of year, and if you’re not, where does that put you? If you can’t afford to buy toys for your kids, where does that leave you? And if you can help, why not help?”
Powers Products
Local company Powers Products is in year two of hosting a team drive, raising funds among staff to sponsor 10 children.
Director of Marketing Beth Pitkin emphasized that the company has always focused on philanthropic endeavors.
“It takes us out of ourselves,” Beth said. “We feel we can come together as a team. We’re coming together to do something constructive for our community. I think that speaks to who this organization is collectively. For the company to collect money and then go in and select kids based on what we collected, it makes it even easier and more fulfilling to support the organization because you feel like you can actually have a voice in it.”
In addition to collecting donations from team members, Beth said the owner of Powers Product will match employee donations up to $1,000. Beth hopes Powers Products will continue to grow their support for Helping Hands for the Holidays.
“Christmas is for children, it’s all about the magic,” Beth said. “You just hope that no matter the situation, you can bring some joy and some relief to parents who are possibly going through a very stressful time this time of year and just help them ensure their children have a great holiday. Beyond that, your whole mission of challenging food insecurity is so worthy. In a time where people have so much, it’s nice to see [resources] being spread around a little bit.”
Helping Hands for the Holidays 2024 Gift Packages
