Secret Santa 2016: Give the Gift of Joy!

Did you know that in 2015, the average American family spent approximately $830 on Christmas gifts, totaling up to $500 billion on national holiday spending?

While 25% of holiday spending goes towards decorations, candy, greeting cards, and food, over 50% of that spending goes towards buying gifts for family members.

For many of you reading this post, some of your fondest memories may be sitting around the Christmas tree with your family on Christmas morning opening your gifts and hoping that the biggest box was for you. One of my own favorite memories was receiving my Barbie Dream House as a young girl.

As we get older, the amount of Christmas gifts we receive decreases and we learn that the holiday season is more about spending time with the people you love and sharing good laughs and good food, not so much about the material things we get.

But for a young child, a christmas gift is more than just a material product. A christmas gift means that there is someone who cares about you enough to give you something special for the holidays. A christmas gift means that you have family watching over you.

Could you imagine a child spending the holidays without their family and not receiving a single christmas gift?

For many kids in foster care, especially teenagers, this is a reality. That's why we created the Secret Santa program: a gift-giving initiative that brings holiday cheer to older youth in foster care who often get overlooked this time of year.

In 2015, with the support of actress Lorraine Bracco and hundreds of other donors, we distributed over $24,000 in gift cards and hundreds of toys to over 700 youth in foster care from New York City.

We also distributed 100 gift cards to Los Angeles based children in foster care through our partnership with Camp Ubuntu and Camp Happy Trails.

This year, YOU have the opportunity to help us spread the holiday cheer! It's simple: all you have to do is purchase a gift card and we will deliver it directly to a child in foster care.

Some suggestions for places to purchase a gift card include: Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret,Forever 21 or Burlington.

Special Tip: You may have debit or credit card points that can be redeemed for gift cards.Have them sent directly to us!

Please keep our children in mind as you do your holiday shopping this year. Your donation will be more than just a gift card: it will be a symbol of love and hope to a child who may not receive anything else this holiday season.