300 area families need sponsors for holiday food, gifts

CEDAR RAPIDS - Hundreds of families in the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program's “Adopt a Family” program are in need of sponsors to help them celebrate the holiday season.

Adopting a family means buying gifts - two new presents for each child and one for each adult - and providing a $60 food basket.

Operations Manager Jennifer Schulte said about 550 families have signed up for the program this year, but the agency has matched only about a third of them with donors so far. Another 300 sponsors are needed.

“Poverty and financial hardships don't take a break for the holidays, especially for Christmas,” she said.

And with the need increasing, program organizers hope the economic strain won't keep donors from giving.

“There are more families in need because of the economic situation and a lot of the resources are being limited,” said Toni Chittenden, who's in her third year as a sponsor with the program.

Her adopted family's wish list includes “Barbie doll, Baby Alive, anything Mickey Mouse and a Moxie doll.” Chittenden said she enlists friends and family to ease her costs in this tight economy.

“This year my mom and my sister have joined me, so that's how we're able to afford another family,” she said.

Among the participants in the program, the families themselves are growing - as many as 13 people in some cases, Schulte said.

“We have grandparents now taking in their grandchildren and other children. We have blended families because of other financial issues,” she said.

However, other participating families consist of as few as two members.

To sign up to sponsor a family of any size, call HACAP at (319) 393-7811.