This was first posted to Facebook by Jim Westhoff, whose family (featuring the amazing Robbie) started this Secret Santa effort last year. I’ve posted the entire text of Jim’s post with his permission. After you’ve read this, please contact Jim and volunteer to be a Secret Santa and go down to help wrap presents. If you take pictures of the wrapping party, send them to me and I’ll get them posted. Here’s Jim’spost:
Please allow me to tell a lengthy story that has a point at the end, Promise.
Three Novembers ago, one evening Rob and I were building something in the workshop, when he started talking about what it’s like to be a foster kid during the holidays.
As most of you know, we adopted Robbie from foster care when he was nine.
Anyway, he said one year, at one family, he had to sit under the tree, on Christmas morning, and be happy for the biological kids who were opening presents, but he received nothing.
But even when he was with better families, he said the holidays were tough because the ads and everything is all about family. And it just reminds the kids every time that they don’t have a family.
We thought about it, and that night we decided to fix that problem.
That year, we started a Secret Santa program where we match up Secret Santas with foster kids. The state children’s agency helps by getting foster kids to fill out a wish list, then we match each kid with a Secret Santa.
The first year, we received wish lists from about 50 kids and we matched every kid with a Santa.
Last year, we had 284 Secret Santas for 136 children. The santas purchased more than 1,300 presents. Each child had at least two Secret Santas.
This year, we’re going to get a Secret Santa for every teen in foster care in Delaware.
The kids have all sent me their wish lists, and some of them will break your heart. These kids are asking for stuff like warm gloves, a sketch pad.
I have wish lists from all 148 teens in foster care in Delaware, thanks to the awesome people at Division of Children.
The first year we did it, a social worker came to me after Christmas and said one of her girls opened up a gift from a Secret Santa, and it was a pair of socks. The girl held the socks too her chest and started crying. She told the social worker that she was crying because this is the first time in her life that someone bought her a present, just for her.
If you want to be a Secret Santa, send me an email, and I will match with you a kid. I’ll email you the kid’s handwritten wish list along with the other details.
Just send me an email to james.westhoff@state.de.us.
Even if you live far away, you can just have the presents shipped to my house. (I’m not so far away, but am shipping my Secret Santa gift.)
Please feel free to share this on your pages, etc.
Lastly, here is a photo album of us wrapping and sorting all of the presents last year — http://imgur.com/a/Jb2F7.
Jim and his family are starting to send out matches tonight. Join in the fun and contact him at james.westhoff@state.de.us