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News Share the Spirit of the Season by Bringing Holiday Cheer to Families in Your Community!
The holiday season brings memories of joy, celebration and spending time with friends and families. Unfortunately, many people are confronted with challenges that can keep these memories from becoming a reality. Each year, Child and Family Services’ Adopt-a-Family Program assists hundreds of individuals served by our Agency who need a little extra help for the holidays.
With the support of partners like you, we provide gifts and essential resources to over 1,100 individuals served by our agency – families who might otherwise go without. In addition, we collect funds and gift cards that help sustain our programs and families throughout the entire year and fulfill needs, such as beds and mattresses. We continue to grow this much needed program every year and we cannot do it without your support.
This year, Adopt-a-Family will be our sole and primary fundraiser. Together, we can make a difference in their lives.
Here are all the ways you or your company can help our families in need this year!
- Adopt-a-Family through a family match. *Updated as of 5.5.26* Registration for adopting a family wish list opens mid- October. Stay tuned! Our families in need complete gift wish lists with their case workers and we match donors like you with these families. The Adopt-a-Family Workshop will be open for fulfilled wish list deliveries at the 824 Delaware Avenue campus in Buffalo.
- Purchase gift cards or items from the Adopt-a-Family Wish Lists. We welcome gift cards and gifts from our Adopt-a-Family Wish Lists. Click here to see our wish lists! Please mail or deliver non-adoption items to Child and Family Services, Attn: Adopt-a-Family, 844 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14209. Include your name and address so we can send you a tax receipt and thank you!
- Volunteer in the workshop. If you or your company is interested in helping in the Adopt-a-Family Workshop this season, email adoptafamily@cfsbny.org with your information, group size and preferred date(s). We will contact you to answer any questions you have and confirm your Workshop schedule.
- Make a financial contribution or support the Dream to Succeed program. Can you imagine going to sleep at night without a mattress? The healing process starts with a night of good rest. With a donation of $200, C+FS can purchase a mattress for a child and/or parent to have a good night’s sleep. All other financial contributions support Adopt-a-Family and fulfilling the needs of families as they come to the Agency. Click here and choose “Dream to Succeed” or “Adopt-a-Family” in the I Want to Support dropdown.
To receive support from Adopt-a-Family, you must be a current client of Child and Family Services. Clients can participate through the referral from their case planner.
If you are not a client of Child and Family Services, and you need holiday support, please reach out to 211 for local services. Call 211 for Essential Community Services | United Way 211
There are plenty of other meaningful ways to support families and children in our care during the holidays!
Gift cards are one of the main ways that C+FS is looking to help support families in our care for the holidays and throughout the year. Whether it’s toilet paper, gas and grocery support, school supplies or birthday treats, we want to ensure that families can have a chance to get the necessities they need to remove barriers on their healing journey.
To learn more, visit Adopt-a-Family Wishlist in Buffalo – Child and Family Services
If registration is closed, it means that all the families referred to adopt-a-family have been matched with donors. Another way to support Adopt-a-Family is through our Amazon wish list. This list works to help fill in the gaps for families who have higher needs than what a wish list can normally fill. Check out our Amazon wish list here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/ZMEBU3L208HP?ref_=wl_share
We understand that each donor interested in adopting a family wish has different financial means. We ask that when considering adopting a family, that you can spend around $150-$200 per individual in a family. We ask this so that we can work to have each member in a family equally provided for. Thank you for your consideration in helping those in need during the holiday season.
No! However, we do ask that around $150-$200 is spent per individual. That being so, as a donor it is up to your discretion to what you’d like to purchase for the family based on their wish list. We encourage families to include their wants alongside their needs while we interview them for their wish lists. If you are not comfortable purchasing what is included on a wish list, please reach out to adoptafamily@cfsbny.org.
Volunteers help make the Adopt-a-Family program run as smoothly as it does. Volunteers help greet donors, sort and organize donations and prepare family wish list items for delivery. Our workshop dates for this year are December 9-18th (M-F) only. The 2 shifts we have available per day offer 20 volunteer spots per shift. We accept individuals, families or corporate partners as volunteers! Please email adoptafamily@cfsbny.org with any questions.
Are you a corporation interested in sponsoring Adopt-a-Family?
You can view all of the benefits of our sponsorship levels by clicking here. Contact Mary Czopp, Chief Communications and Development Officer, at mczopp@cfsbny.org or 716-335-7050 for more information or to become a sponsor.
