Holiday Giving Party
Holiday Giving Party
December 2024 marks our club’s 24th Annual Holiday Giving for families of Family Outreach of Amherst (FOA). For many of the children, the gifts they receive are the only holiday gifts they will receive. The Rotary Club of Amherst sponsors 40 children each year. The FAO case workers work with the families to prepare a wish list for each child with their hearts desire. Rotarians sign up to sponsor a child and shop from the wish list with a $50.00 to $75.00 budget per child. Rotarians work alongside each other to wrap the gifts which are then delivered to Family Outreach of Amherst for the case workers to deliver to the individual families. Each family also receives a $50.00 Big Y gift card. This is truly one of the most meaningful projects our Club has.
In 2000, Past President Andy Beall had a dream that became reality when we hosted the first Annual Rotary Club of Amherst’s Holiday Giving Party for local underprivileged children. It was Andy’s dream to provide a special evening for the children and their families including a holiday meal, entertainment, and gifts from Santa. For many of the children, the gifts they receive from our party are the only holiday gifts they will receive. In the early years of hosting the event, members of the club prepared the meal, and the event was held in a local hall decorated with balloons. Since then, we have had to discontinue the in-person event, but we continue the tradition.