This organization fulfills holiday wish lists for kids in foster care – and keeps sending them gifts when they age out of the system
CBSN
When you're a child in foster care, family traditions and gifts for the holidays might be distant dreams. But an organization in south Florida is working to make them a reality. Ahead of the holidays each year, volunteers at Jewish Adoption and Family Care Options work to make the wishes of foster kids come true.
"A lot times at the holidays, children in foster care just get random gifts from very well-intended, generous people in the community, but there's lots of puzzles and lots of Barbie dolls and that's not necessarily what they would want in their heart," JAFCO's CEO Sarah Franco told CBS News. "And I'm not sure that the children in our care have ever had a wish come true on the holidays, necessarily."
Each year, JAFCO holds a Hanukkah Gift Drive, where people can buy presents from kids' wish lists. Then, JAFCO volunteers wrap them. "Since we are a Jewish agency, we say Hanukkah [gift drive], but we really mean 'holiday' and we really honor the background of every child we have," Franco said.
