By Jenny King

Before I came to CAP, my favorite time of the year was winter, mainly because of Christmas and my birthday being during the colder months. Now that I work with the Family Advocacy program, Christmas has definitely become the best time of the year! During August, each county caseworker takes applications for families and elderly persons who meet our income requirements and need help to have Christmas gifts for their children. Then, these families are matched with sponsors who send in gifts for each member of the family. The boxes begin arriving in our office September through November. We check these boxes in and organize the gifts so they are ready for distribution in December. The week before Christmas, each county has a Christmas service and then the boxes are distributed, along with a small voucher for a Christmas dinner, to each family. It's a huge undertaking, but totally worth it....the Christmas Basket program is, by far, my favorite time of the year!

Christmas boxes ready for distribution (2008)

What I love about this program is 1) that I get to be "Santa's elf," 2) the joy that it brings to the families and elderly who receive gifts, 3) and I actually love organizing the service and distribution! If you are interested in sponsoring a family, please send your mailing address to our office at rockout@chrisapp.org.

Jenny King is a long-term volunteer in CAP's Family Advocacy porgram. She lives in Rockcastle Volunteer House.