Spread the Spirit of Christmas... "Adopt" a military family through Operation Christmas Spirit
|
|
|
The best way to spread Christmas JOY, is helping a military girl or BOY!
Okay, so we're not poets, but we do know a lot about spreading the Spirit of Christmas through our Operation Christmas Spirit program!
With Christmas just days away, we are still taking online, e-gift card and mailed gift card donations to support military families at Christmas time. Please see the form below to help us make the best use of your donations. THANK YOU!
Information for Operation Christmas Spirit Family "Adoptions" 2019
Mission: The mission of Operation Christmas Spirit is to unite military families and the community they serve in the Spirit of Christmas. OHH works with individuals, families, groups, businesses, and communities who want to express their gratitude and support of military families who sacrifice so much for us over the holidays.
Our program: Operation Christmas Spirit, going 17 years strong, is comprised of several facets to include family "adoptions," single service member gifts, unit Christmas party support, volunteer opportunities, and toy collections for children of service members. Hands down, the focus and most important piece of this project is our family "adoption" program. Families are vetted through unit nominations and/or applications for Christmas assistance. Once a family is approved for the program, they fill out a family wish list. These wish lists are shared only with the donor(s) we pair them with to make their Christmas wishes come true.
This year we will start with 300 families from the following "hub" areas/bases:
Once those 300 unit vetted families are "adopted" we then serve families who have filled out applications for assistance from all over the US. These families apply for help, are placed on a wait list and helped as more donors step forward.
Our goals for each family participating:
We try to provide each family with a minimum of the following:
Important to know:
Wish list timeline:
Our program: Operation Christmas Spirit, going 17 years strong, is comprised of several facets to include family "adoptions," single service member gifts, unit Christmas party support, volunteer opportunities, and toy collections for children of service members. Hands down, the focus and most important piece of this project is our family "adoption" program. Families are vetted through unit nominations and/or applications for Christmas assistance. Once a family is approved for the program, they fill out a family wish list. These wish lists are shared only with the donor(s) we pair them with to make their Christmas wishes come true.
This year we will start with 300 families from the following "hub" areas/bases:
- SoCal: Camp Pendleton, Miramar, MCRD San Diego, and 29 Palms
- Colorado: Fort Carson, Buckley AFB, Peterson AFB
- Tampa, Fl: MacDill AFB
- DC Metro Area: Quantico, Fort Belvoir
- North Carolina: Camp Lejeune, New River Air Station
- Arizona: MCAS Yuma
- San Antonio, TX: Fort Sam Houston, Lackland AFB
- We have families apply for Christmas help throughout the United States in addition to those in our "hub" areas. We can only help those additional families if donors, like you, get involved.
Once those 300 unit vetted families are "adopted" we then serve families who have filled out applications for assistance from all over the US. These families apply for help, are placed on a wait list and helped as more donors step forward.
Our goals for each family participating:
We try to provide each family with a minimum of the following:
- A minimum of 3 gifts per child
- A minimum of 2 gifts per adult (to honor DOD's gift giving policy, we limit gifts for the service member to $100 or less and focus on his/her family).
- A minimum of $200 in gift cards to enable families to do shopping of their own and/or to immediate needs
- Because most of our families are either preparing to separate, are separated due to deployment, or have just been reunited, we try to provide at least 1 gift that families can enjoy together (movie tickets, games, family photos, activities to do together, etc.)
- Adopt a family (provide gifts and gift cards)
- Provide gift cards for a family
- Provide gifts only for a family
- Provide toys or wish list items for one family member (This is not part of the family adoption form, but a very much appreciated option.)
- Provide a family gift that can be enjoyed as family (This is not part of the family adoption form but a gift families truly appreciate.)
- Provide an online donation to be used to adopt a family later in the season when OHH needs it the most.
Important to know:
- If you sign up and commit to a family, you receive a wish list with gift ideas for each family member along with needs, hobbies, wishes, sizes, and more.
- Gifts are dropped off or mailed to our volunteers who help organize and coordinate gift pick ups with families.
- We do NOT arrange for personal drop offs to families to protect their privacy and yours. Most families write cards and make contact with donors after Christmas in thanks, but with years of experience doing this, we know that the overwhelming majority of families prefer a private pick up.
- We share your address with your adopted family unless you indicate you want to be anonymous so they can write you a thank you note/get in contact after Christmas.
- You have four options for adopting a family: 1. drop off gifts at one of our hub locations, 2. mail gifts to OHH volunteers who will get the gifts to your adopted family, 3. donate online and we'll do the shopping for you, or 4. we'll assign you a family that is as geographically close to your location as possible.
- We do NOT take requests to find families in areas outside of our hub areas. We MAY end up having families in your area participate, but because families out of our hub areas apply for Christmas assistance, we go with families where the help is needed. We are amazed each year by how the Spirit of Christmas brings people even in the most remote areas together (the stories we could tell!), but we can't predict where needs will be this early. If you only want to adopt families in your area and you are out of our hub areas, you can request to be alerted if families step forward near you, or you can check back December 2nd-5th when we list the last of our families in need of support.
Wish list timeline:
- Register now through our Operation Christmas Spirit Kick Off --- NOVEMBER 11th-- and you'll receive your wish list STARTING on November 17th (please note that this takes time and plan to be patient with our volunteers)
- Register between November 12th and December 5th and receive your wish list within 7 days of your request. After December 5th, we will list the families we have left, updating every day!
- As an all volunteer organization, we will not be working on wish lists November 27-29th to be able to spend Thanksgiving with our own military families.
- After December 10th you can still help a family, but we shift gears to online donations and gift card donations to ensure we can get gifts to families in time for Christmas.