Last Christmas Eve, Kara loaded a U-Haul with her husband and in-laws and distributed gifts to families at the Hoboken Housing Authority. She remembers their smiles, their tears and their disbelief that a stranger would buy them a gift.
“It’s so nice to bring people that little bit of happiness,” Kara says. “It filled me in a way that I wasn’t expecting.”
This year, you can bring that same joy to someone in Hoboken. Starting now, you can adopt a family or child through the Hoboken Christmas Exchange. After signing up, you’ll receive a wish list specifying exactly what gifts would brighten up their holidays. On Dec. 19, Hoboken Grace will host a distribution day, where you’ll be able to give the family their gifts in person at 301 Garden. If you or the family are unable to attend, a special team of elves will deliver it for you.
The gifts families often request include diapers, coats, food, Legos, books and towels.
“These are people who would ask for helpful things, as well as toys for their kids,” says Kara, who is helping organize the program.
If you’re worried about the financial commitment, volunteers are also needed to help with distribution and various tasks leading up to the event.
“There are going to be opportunities for everyone to get involved,” Kara says.
Kara started the gift exchange last year, after looking for a way to donate baby items. Unsure of where to donate – or how to help more than one family – she began thinking that there must be other people who’d be willing to give, and other families in need.
“I thought, if I have the desire to give, I bet other people do, too, and I bet there’s some way I can help match those people,” she says.
Her husband’s company liked the idea and offered to support the project. So Kara began working with local organizations to collect holiday wish lists. Her husband’s company fulfilled dozens of gift requests, and Kara’s co-workers and Hoboken Grace members also adopted families.
One woman, Kara remembers, needed a pair of dress boots for job interviews. The woman had been shy about asking for the shoes and didn’t expect anyone to buy them. The size was hard to find, but the woman who adopted the family, one of Kara’s co-workers, finally found a pair. They were more expensive than she had expected, but she bought them anyway. When Kara delivered the gift, the woman was brought to tears.
“When she saw that she got them, she cried, and she hugged me,” Kara says. “She said, ‘This person doesn’t even know me.’ ”
Another woman, a mother of four kids, asked for a microwave. “To some people, it may seem kind of extravagant, but if you’re a mom, you need to heat up food sometimes,” Kara says. “So we made sure she got her microwave.”
This year, Kara wants to help as many people as possible. She’s doubled the number of organizations involved, so that more families in need get involved. She hopes that this will be the beginning of something bigger, and that the program will connect families across Hoboken.
“This year,” she says, “the sky’s the limit.” To participate in this years event visit hobokenchristmas.com.
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