By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
With just under two weeks remaining, the Adopt A Family program is still in need of adopters for families in need this Christmas.
Out of the 881 families in the program, 453 had been adopted as of Wednesday morning.
AFL-CIO Community Services Executive Director Nichi Seckinger says they’re happy to be at the halfway point, especially at a time where adopters typically lag
“We’ll see it pick up again, hopefully, next week and now that we’ve got some final numbers in and we’re starting to kind of re-rally the troops,” Seckinger tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “But this is probably the hardest time for us to get people reengaged, and get them back on track to adopt again, or more, or to get signed up to adopt.”
Seckinger says now, as adopter typically hit a lag, it’s all about encouraging people to adopt and points out people seeing those numbers helps
“Some of our regular adopters will kind of step up, especially when they know we’re falling behind a little bit, I think it makes them a little more sympathetic and they understand the challenge we’re facing,” Seckinger explains. “And for some of the groups they’re raising funds as a group and they’ll take care of the families they have, and maybe they’ll have a little bit of money left over and when they hear that we still have this many families left they’ll rally and maybe grab a couple extra families.”
Seckinger says along with a need for adopters, there is also a massive need for volunteers to help in the gift room
“And I’ll tell you that is one of the best ways to participate,” Seckinger says. “Talk about a way to interact and really see the impact that you can make by participating in the program and it’s such a feel-good time to be able to spend with these families as they’re picking out items for their kids and their household, it really is just a good experience and a really nice way to see the program in action.”
The gift room is open December 17th through Christmas Eve from 9am to 5pm, and from 9am to 1pm on Christmas Eve.
To volunteer or adopt, you can contact the AFL-CIO Community Services offices or go online.
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