2009 Winter Newsletter

Record turnout

Huge demand for Christmas help met with smiles

Our Christmas Cheer and Adopt-a-Family
programs were overflowing with families this
year, and fortunately our volunteer rolls were
overflowing as well.
Many dozens of businesses, organizations,
churches and families contacted us to adopt a
family this Christmas, and so we were able to
helpmore than 400 families in need through this
wonderful program.
From mattresses and

computers to socks
and stuffed bears, gifts
were delivered to our
EastMainWorship
and Service Center,
and then sent out
again the next day
with grateful
mothers, fathers and
grandparents.
For the first time ever,
our Christmas Cheer
registration was forced
to close early when the
program reached the maximum number of
families who can be served given the time,
space and resources available: 24,267 individuals
were served. In the last week before Christmas,
volunteers and staff turned an empty warehouse
at the Ohio state fairgrounds into a
large-scale toy shop and grocery store. Families
filed in, chose a new, donated toy for each
child in the family, and then saw their box
filled with nutritious food for a holiday meal.
The many,many people who made this effort
possible are listed on page 3.
Special recognition goes to Broaden
Technologies, which donated refurbished
computers to 10 families in theAdopt-a-Family
program, andMark Burleson, who turned his
grief to good when he collected hundreds
upon hundreds of toys in memory of his
daughter, Kasey, aWorthington Kilbourne
student who was killed in a car accident in
2005.Media partnersWCOL 92.3 and
Radio U 88.7
both helped us
collect toys,
as well.