advertisement

Batavia United Way's Adopt-A-Family program brings community together

The Batavia United Way would like to express its sincere gratitude to over 80 sponsors who adopted 145 families, including more than 275 kids, for the 2021 holiday Adopt-a-Family program.

These sponsors included businesses, families, individuals, clubs, and Scouts from Batavia as well as all over the western suburbs.

Additionally, anonymous donors provided generous monetary contributions to support this program.

More than 275 kids from 145 families received gifts, gift cards, toys, pajamas, and more as part of Batavia United Way's annual Adopt-A-Family project. Courtesy of Batavia United Way

Collectively, sponsors and donors provided thousands of dollars in Christmas cheer to these families in an especially difficult time.

This undertaking is truly a collaborative effort and the Batavia United Way would like to share our sincerest thanks to so many that made this all possible.

Once again, the Batavia Women in Business and Batavia Youth Baseball held very successful cash and gift card drives within their organizations to provide families with groceries, restaurant meals, and other necessities.

The Batavia Lions Club held their annual Underwear Party and raised more $1,700 while also collecting multiple bins of socks and underwear. Hearth & Hammer also held a successful pajama drive to collect sleepwear for the kids.

The Batavia Women's Club coordinated beautiful stockings for each of the kids.

Chip IN provided bags of fresh produce and bread to each family, and the community rallied to provide every family with a bag of nonperishables such as toilet paper, laundry detergent and more. Thankfully, Bethany Lutheran Church stepped up to serve as a drop off spot for these grocery bags while we waited to move into our event space which was provided by the very generous Batavia Enterprises.

Amy Nelson, right, of Batavia Public Schools District 101 is joined by, from left, Batavia United Way's Kari Edwards, Cindy Morgan, former executive director Melinda Kintz, executive director Barbara Theuerkauf and Kathy Evangelista at a Adopt-A-Family event. Courtesy of Batavia United Way

Multitudes of community members and businesses helped to provide gifts, gift cards, toys, pajamas, and more!

Special thanks to Batavia Public Schools for taking the time out of a stressful and ever-changing academic environment to support this program by identifying the families in need and inviting them to participate in our program.

The Batavia United Way would like to thank the families of Grace McWayne Elementary School that donated 235 boxes of cereal for families in need.

Lastly, the organizers have profound appreciation for all the volunteers that pulled the array of details all together for a beautiful presentation delivered to the families. There were tears of joy and tremendous sighs of relief as parents picked up the Christmas that would not have happened otherwise.

"Elves" help out with deliveries for Batavia United Way's Adopt-A-Family program. Courtesy of Batavia United Way

The collective effort, generosity, and compassion of our communities to provide for these programs really illustrate the true meaning of the holiday season. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all who supported these programs!

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.