Thanks to our generous volunteers, donors, and hardworking staff, this holiday season was filled with extra joy! Our community showed their dedication this Christmas by giving an unprecedented number of volunteer hours, holiday gifts, and financial support to our neighbors this year. Keep reading to learn about a few of the holiday highlights from this past holiday season!
The day before Thanksgiving was a busy one at St. Patrick’s Parish. Volunteers and CSS staff arrived at 8am and began packing and distributing Thanksgiving meal boxes to Anchorage families all day so everyone would have food to cook and enjoy on Thanksgiving. Together, we distributed a total of 25 tons of Thanksgiving food for families! A big thank you to the volunteers, staff, and folks at St. Patrick’s Parish who made this huge achievement possible!
Helping Holidays donors supported 243 Catholic Social Services client families this year with gift cards, socks, toys, and more! One RAIS client family who participated this year was a mom, dad, child, and soon-to-arrive baby who had just arrived in Alaska. Toys and essential home items were provided to this family by a donor named Susan and her friends who make Helping Holidays a yearly tradition. The family they supported shared a note on their wish list, “We may not get anything on this list or everything on this list, but thank you for asking. God bless you.”
This year’s annual Lisa Whitmore Shop with a Cop & Firefighter event was a huge success, continuing a 20 year tradition! Children staying at Clare House got the chance to spend $225 on gifts for Christmas on a special shopping spree for themselves and their family at Fred Meyer. This event helps make Christmas special for kids in our community, and continues to be a special collaboration between CSS, first responders, and our community partners.
280 shelter guests received Christmas gifts thanks to the generosity of the Zumiez Foundation and multiple donation drives around Anchorage. Our very own Adult Homeless Services Council hosted their annual gift wrapping event at 3rd Avenue Resource & Navigation Center to ensure everyone got a wrapped gift on Christmas day!
Thanks to the enormous effort and support provided by our community, you have helped our neighbors have a very special holiday season. We cannot thank everyone who participated in giving over the holidays enough – your gifts ensured holiday blessings were spread across our community, thank you!