BELLEVILLE - It’s the holiday season and for some families in Southern Illinois and the Metro East area, getting gifts under a Christmas tree is not always a given. Caritas Family Solutions, a nonprofit human services agency, is encouraging people to sponsor children through its Secret Santa program, which is expected to help provide gifts for nearly 1,400 children this year.
Abbey Turner, an Administrative Manager Supervisor who manages the program, has been with the agency since 2018. Her parents were foster parents during her childhood so helping youth in care has been close to her heart for a long time. She said she knows very well how valuable the support of a community is for programs like these.
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“We simply can't make this program happen without the generosity of people in our community,” said Turner. “Our kids receive really special gifts from people who are looking to help fill a need. By giving them the gift they want, we are providing them with a sense of normalcy during a time in their life where they need it most.”
The Secret Santa program provides tags for every foster child in their care along with families from intact family services. Each tag includes information about the type of Christmas gift they’d like to receive. Businesses interested in helping can either sponsor an entire list of kids, provide a monetary donation, host a toy drive or provide their employees with an Angel Tree, where people can pick the Secret Santa tags.
"Our staff and our community are all supporting the same goal and that's to help set up these kids with happy, healthy and whole futures,” said Turner. "When we see the end result of one of our kids getting to open something they really were hoping to get, we know it's worth all the effort during this special time of year.”
Founded in 1947, Caritas Family Solutions is a nonprofit social service agency whose mission is to strengthen the social and emotional well-being of individuals and families in order to create healthy relationships, loving homes, and strong communities. Services include adoption, community family stabilization programs, foster care, counseling, residential treatment for children healing from abuse and/or neglect, independent living for adults with developmental disabilities (CILA), and assisted living. Caritas serves more than 6,300 individuals annually across Southern Illinois from offices located in Belleville, Carterville, Mount Vernon, Olney, Glen Carbon, Alton, and Effingham as well as satellite locations in Highland and Sparta. For additional information, visit www.caritasfamilysolutions.org.
