Act #26 - Adopt of Family

So I have always wanted to "adopt" a family at the holidays. I know during these economic times that families all over are struggling financially just to afford crackers anymore! I am all for food pantries and donation centers, but it's hard finding ones that you know are truly helping people that need the help. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it's also hard not to think that some people take advantage of organizations instead of letting people that desperately need the help be the ones to receive it. After some digging and a lot of research, I found a place called Families First in Atlanta. They had their website (www.familiesfirst.com) set up so that you could "adopt" a family at Thanksgiving, Christmas or both. They gave Family ID #'s, the number of people in each family, a list of items they needed/requested and a little history about them. Most everyone on there just wanted to make sure their kids were taken care of, especially at Christmas time. I scrolled through numerous families under Thanksgiving until I found Family ID#3 that had 2 members. The family story said the following: "The mother is a survivor of domestic violence. She lost everything when she left the abuser. They do not have anything".

Y'all, I wanted to track this lady down and give her all of my belongings. I could not imagine what this woman and her child went through or the courage it took to get out and leave everything behind. I truly commend her for that! I tried to see if she was available to "adopt" for Christmas too but I couldn't find her there. I figured someone else may have got her covered for that. Families First had a list of suggested items that you could give for a Thanksgiving meal and I wanted to make sure that everything on that list was covered. I want to give a HUGE Thank You to my sister-in-laws, Kristal, Tammy and Jetonne. They went out and purchased a lot of the items that were needed and together we got every.single.thing that was on the list...turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, crackers, cake mixes, jello, nuts...you name it, we got it! I had to deliver the items to Families Firsts' office on Weds morning. I thought they had workers that delivered everything, but apparently they have volunteers for that too. They came and got everything out of my car and then over the next couple of days they deliver everything to each family. I truly hope that this lady and her child have a great Thanksgiving as they both deserve it!