Adopt a Child program providing Christmas gifts to more than 1,000 children in need

December 13, 2019

Julie Kleshinski, executive director of the Richland County Children's Auxiliary, and Darlene Rudrick, missions coordinator at Crossroads Church, hold up Christmas gift bags prepared for the Adopt a Child program.

By Richland Source

Katie Ellington, Staff Reporter

 

MANSFIELD -- There are few excitements greater than the joy of a child waking up on Christmas morning to see a pile of gifts under the tree. But for some families, providing those presents is impossible without help.

For nearly 20 years, the Adopt a Child program has provided holiday gifts to some of Richland County’s neediest children. 

“Adopt a Child is one of our larger programs throughout the year,” said Julie Kleshinski, executive director of Richland County Children’s Auxiliary. 

Children are referred to the auxiliary by various social service providers in the area based on need. Families are contacted and asked to submit some basic information about the child, including their clothing sizes, needs and interests. Then the children are “adopted” by local businesses, churches and individuals.

After the gifts are collected, they’re brought to Crossroads Church, where Darlene Rudrick and her team of volunteers sort them into festive holiday gift bags, each adorned with a homemade name tag.

Rudrick said that people who adopt a child often focus more heavily on needed items, so volunteers double-check each child’s gift bag to make sure there are some toys and books as well.

“The kids are asking for socks and underwear and pajamas and winter coats and bedding,” she said. “I think it’s great that we include toys and games because children learn through play and many of these children need all the developmental assets they can get.”

“We make sure a kid has books,” she added. “There’s not any bag that goes out of here that doesn’t have clothing and something to stimulate their brains, their sense of play, their creativity.”

Forty nine children will also receive bicycles donated by the Spokes4Kids program.

The Adopt a Child program is also a chance to minister to the childrens’ parents and guardians. During the gift distribution period, they are invited to take a seat, enjoy coffee and Christmas cookies and socialize while a volunteer fetches their child’s bag. 

As Rudrick set up the receiving station inside the Crossroads Church lobby, she placed a box of tissues on each table.

“We don’t want them to feel like a number when they come in to get the gifts,” she explained. “Sometimes these families are eager to have someone to talk to about their troubles and just care about them.”

Before sending them home with a bag of gifts and a plate of Christmas cookies, Rudrick and her team do their best to make the children’s caregivers feel loved, rather than judged.

“We are all very quick to think, ‘Oh, you’ve made bad choices, you got yourself in this situation’ and when you hear the stories, that is often not the case,” she said. “There may have been some bad choices that started something, but it may be a grandma raising some kids.”

This year, the program will ensure that 1,075 children, from newborns to high school seniors, have something to unwrap come Christmas morning. It’s a sizable impact, but Kleshinski and Rudrick would love to see the program continue to grow.

“There are many children that we don’t reach through this program and caseworkers that wish they could refer more, but we have limited funds,” said Kleshinski.

Approximately 5,287 Richland County children live in poverty, according to 2018 estimates by the United States Census Bureau. 

While the statistics are staggering, Rudrick said the community’s response to the program gives her hope. Every sponsor is asked to spend a minimum of $120 per child, which means donors collectively spent upwards of $129,000 on area children this year.

“It’s kind of overwhelming to think how many children (live in poverty), but it’s also very overwhelming to think about the generosity of a community that will step up and serve these children with that amount of funds,” she said.

 

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