If it weren’t for programs like Adopt-A-Family at Combined Community Services, hundreds of families in Kosciusko County might go without a Christmas. In 2012, about 500 families were able to celebrate the holiday through Adopt-A-Family. Sign-up for the program this year is Nov. 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at CCS, 1195 Mariners Drive, Warsaw, according to Director of Client Assistance Peggi Lisenbee-Wright. Sign-up is for new families within Kosciusko who have not accessed the Adopt-A-Family program before or who have not accessed similar programs through other agencies, schools, the Salvation Army or churches. Families who sign up must reside within the county, and must prove they live in the county and the children on their application live with them. Families will be available for adopters to choose beginning at 9 a.m. Nov. 7. “Adopt-A-Family is a really cool program,” Lisenbee-Wright stated. In describing the program, CCS Emergency Services Coordinator Carrie Bruns said, “New families are able to sign up so their kids can experience Christmas. Families, churches and organizations come in and look through the applications and decide what families they want to provide for.” On the application, families provide their children’s names, birthdates, genders, grades, wish list and sizes for shoes, coats, pants, shirts and pajamas. “We keep gifts reasonable,” Lisenbee-Wright said. If a family asks for a big item like a flat-screen television, they are given one chance to change it. She said they also ask adopters to provide gift cards to families for things like gas, groceries, coffee and movies. Lisenbee-Wright said those who adopt a family deliver their gifts to their family 80 to 90 percent of the time. “It’s a fantastic program. The whole community gets involved,” Lisenbee-Wright said. She noted that a huge part of Christmas is keeping Christ in the holiday. In that regard, Lisenbee-Wright said they need donors so any families CCS needs to shop for can have gift cards, too. Bruns said she likes the last-minute shopping after last-minute donors give to the program because CCS is then able to assist families they weren’t sure they would be able to help. Bruns said an amazing thing about the program is that families put coats, socks and underwear on their wish lists. Families often have to be asked to put toys down for their children, Lisenbee-Wright added. “If you have family that will provide Christmas, please do not sign up for Adopt-A-Family,” Lisenbee-Wright said. After Thanksgiving, CCS opens the program back up to referral and previously adopted families if the families from the Nov. 6 sign-up have been adopted. For more information or questions, contact Lisenbee-Wright at 574-269-6019, Ext. 222. “It’s my favorite program probably. One of them,” she stated.
