Navajo Child Drive Appeal 2007
 Why
you should give . . .
... a 7 year-old girl told one staff member that all she
wants is a mother....
Gifts and Volunteers
Santa's helpers are "gettin' busy" with their labor of love in
Eastern Navajo Agency (ENA). The ENA Special Education Department,
which continues to provide services to over 920 special needs children,
at 20 schools.
Care coordinators work with knowledgeable staff at each of the schools
to help identify the families
and develop lists of their children, their ages, and needs. “Wish lists”
from our children have included the following items: winter blanket,
Barbie doll, coloring books, art supplies, backpack, jacket, and
basketball (very popular among middle-school boys). And, oh yes, a 7
year-old girl told one staff member that all she wants is a mother.
We are all volunteers, therefore all funds raised and items
received go directly to our families. Our only overhead is postage,
paper, and ink as well as wrapping supplies.
We try to shop the sales and closeouts off-season, if our cash flow
allows. The 2006 Child Drive was sprinkled
with surprised assistance from a couple of new businesses, organizations
and youth groups leaving us with a balance of $4,242.27! We have been able
to shop post and pre sales, as well as deposit money into our Community
Pantry account allowing our Care Coordinators to bring boxes of food to
desperate families.
We are proud to announce our partnership with
Family-2-Family, a
national program based in NY which focuses on developing relationship
between families with more to families with significantly less. But we desperately need additional "Elves" whether they are individuals,
organizations, or businesses.
A typical Christmas food basket consists of a laundry basket lined with
a table cloth and filled with canned vegetables, onions, potatoes, a
canned ham, cookies, bags of apples and oranges, coffee, tea and what is
known locally as the “sheepherder’s special” (25 lb. sack of Bluebird
flour, salt, lard, baking powder, sugar). We always find room for one
fleece blanket to sit on top. Since Christmas comes toward the end of
the month, most of our families are literally out of money and short on
food. The holiday baskets make the drive more personal and meaningful.
We estimate the cost for a family with four children to be $150
Please Give
Our target age population is birth through 16. New clothing items, caps
/ gloves / mittens, blankets, toys, books, stuffed animals are needed.
We are not shy about asking sponsors to also send gently used blankets,
stuffed animals, toys, books, shoes and other clothing items (adult
sizes too) now or at any time during the year.
Our goal this year is to help 280 families and 650 children.
For sponsors who would rather we shop, we put wrapped and tagged “Santa”
boxes together for children, birth through 16, for $15 - $20. Typically
the boxes might contain; a toy/stuffed animal or other age appropriate
gift requested, a book, mittens / gloves, and cap / scarf. Toiletries
and blankets have also found their way into some boxes.
$150 sponsors a family with 4 children including the Holiday basket and
one fleece blanket.
TARGET DATES:
11/5 - 11/20 RECEIVE SPONSOR PLEDGES / GIFTS
11/21 - 12/05 MASSIVE SHOPPING DAYS
12/1 & 12/13 WRAPPING PARTIES
12/15 - 12/22 GIFT DELIVERY AGENCY WIDE
We will continue to accept any donations after these dates for delivery
before Christmas or to store safely for future use.
If you have questions or suggestions or are sending donations, please
contact
Kathy Spitz
|
