By MATT PIKE
The application period is underway for this years Adopt A Family program, with families in need this Chrismas season already quickly applying AFL-CIO Communty Services Director Nichi Seckinger says
"Which is a good thing, because it lets us get people ready for adopters to view, ut it's kind of frightening because we've had a lot in the door in just a week," Seckinger tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "We had over 175, I know for sure, and I think there's been a few more that have come in of seniors, and then probably about 200 households have already sent in their applications, and of course, there are just more rolling in every day."
The program and need continues to grow year over year, which does have some scary factors Seckinger says.
"The more families we have, the more adopters we have to find, and unfortunately, in this time of year, and this year in particular, with the way the economy is going, you know, you're hearing a lot of people talk about not having the money to take care of their own," Seckinger explains. "So, asking people to take on the addition of helping other folks, it becomes worrisome, you really start to worry, and we kind of anticipated it. We knew it would be a big year because of the economic things that are going on and we had a feeling that we would have to really rally our adopters this year for the same reason."
But despite the program growing, Seckinger says the community comes through each year in helping provide families in need a good Christmas
"Thank goodness, because it, you know, sometimes it's really kind of scary and we don't think we're going to get everybody taken care of, and inevitably they step up and help us get them done," Seckinger says. "We've seen more folks that we've had to put through the gift room in past years that weren't public adoptions, ended up being agency adoptions, but, you know, folks come through and get us the items that we need for the gift room."
Along with adopting families, toys and gifts can be donated to AFL-CIO for the gift room to be picked out. Seckinger says the biggest issue this year will be supplementing the gift room with gift cards for teens and families
"And that is going to be the only hesitation we have this year is if we have to make sure those dollars are coming in to be able to purchase those gift cards, because we buy $20,000 of gift cards to start and then continue to purchase them as we need them as households are processed," Seckinger points out. "And so making sure that we get the donations to cover that is going to be the real thing we're going to keep an eye on this year. Because we really are concerned that the financial donations are going to be lower because of the economy."
To learn more about adopting a family, or how to donate to the gift room or make financial donations, you can visit AFL-CIO Community Service's websiste or contact their offices
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.