By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
AFL-CIO Community Services is still looking for people to adopt families, but officials feel confident they will meet the need.
With 880 families up for adoption this holiday in the Adopt a Family program, 365 have been adopted thus far.
Executive Director Nichi Seckinger says this next week will be very telling for how things will go.
"It's kind of funny, either we see a really significant uptick from here on out, where people really start getting involved because they've finished up with their own Christmas shopping and their deciding to hop in and help," Seckinger tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "Or, we see unfortunately a real drop, because the help that we're getting has been here."
Seckinger says with 50 more families adopted this year than at this point last year, there's optimism at the agency.
"We're seeing more folks come in and be interested in adopting, we may not have them adopting as many families, but we are seeing more adopters," Seckinger explains. "And we're seeing more people drop off items for the gift room, so that's always a good thing."
Seckinger says donations to the gift room are just as valuable as people coming in and adopting an entire family.
Seckinger says the program is set up in a way that people can help however they can.
"You can buy one toy, and it goes further than you can imagine to help us complete this program," Seckinger says.
Seckinger says whether it's a new toy, or maybe one that was bought, and you planned to take it back to the store.
"We will take it in the gift room, because I guarantee you there is somebody in our 880 families that are going to be more than happy to have that item under their tree," Seckinger points out.
Toys for the gift room can be brought to the AFL-CIO Community Services offices right up until Christmas. Families can be adopted online or by visiting the offices as well.