Thank you for considering a gift to support our Holiday Help Adopt-a-Family EXTREME program. It’s always a tremendous pleasure to work with caring individuals, such as yourself, to provide a hand-up for families in need. This is particularly meaningful during the holiday season.
Our goal is to meet the needs of those who are going through difficult times with very limited resources during the holiday season and to connect them with generous sponsors that are able to offer a significant means of support.
In order to receive sponsorship, families in need may apply for assistance with our organization. Our primary criteria to qualify for receiving help is based upon the following:
- A family in need must complete a simple application declaring and/or demonstrating the need for help.
- A family in need is currently someone we know and is participating in one or more of our programs.
- A family in need receives a referral from someone we trust associated with our programs.
Our “typical” holiday help program (not the EXTREME program), is a shopping with dignity style event that promotes and upholds the personal honor of our many families in need, allowing parents to select from a variety of age appropriate gifts for their families. We’re mindful that having a sponsor provide gifts directly to a family can inadvertently cause personal embarrassment for the parents and tempt their children to view their parents as inadequate providers. Through this program, we help hundreds of families in need every year.
Sometimes; however, we have found that unique life circumstances, such as illnesses, accident, job loss, or even the untimely death of a loved one has left a family in such dire need that a normal sponsorship simply is not adequate to meet the extreme needs that they are facing. With this in mind, we have our EXTREME Holiday Help Sponsorship opportunity. This is an initiative that requires a much bigger commitment on the part of the sponsor or sponsoring group; however, it also allows our generous sponsors to experience the personal satisfaction of meeting a family in need and hearing their story first-hand. I invite you to take a moment to visit the following video link (or view below) put together by one of our EXTREME partners as it highlights several of our previous recipient families: https://vimeo.com/240064329
Sponsor Information
Please note the following criteria required to participate as an EXTREME Holiday Help Sponsor:
- Have a willingness and financial capacity to commit at least $2500 or more in gifts, gift cards, cash donations and/or in-kind donations.
- If possible, we encourage at least 1 major gift that the family will alert us to in advance. This could be something to benefit the entire family such as a much-needed appliance, furniture item, computer, vehicle, special trip or recreational excursion, a late bill that needs to be satisfied, or another similar gift that allows the family to experience a collective blessing.
- Provide gifts for each member of the family. NOTE: For us, “family” is being defined as those who are dependents and/or full-time residents of the home. Wish lists for each person will be provided to you.
- Provide fixings for a holiday meal or gift certificates to a local mid-level eatery. No fast food please.
As you think about your experience as an EXTREME Holiday Help Sponsor, please review the following options and important details.
Option #1: Once you commit to becoming a sponsor, you will receive a bit of information regarding the family you will be sponsoring including a wish list of gift items that have been requested and/or are appropriate for the family. Then, we ask that you shop, wrap and place name tags on the gifts you are providing. Once ready, we arrange for you to meet with the family in order to schedule a mutually agreeable time to deliver the gifts.
Option #2: The same as Option #1; however, you drop off the gifts to us and we deliver these on your behalf. We must receive the gifts by no later than December 20th.
Option #3: We provide you with the family information. You make a cash/credit card/gift card donation of $2500 or more. We then mobilize our volunteer shoppers to buy, wrap and deliver gifts in your name or anonymously if you so choose. You can make a donation by sending a check to Good in the ‘Hood 7733 West River Rd. Minneapolis, MN 55444 or by credit card through the secure online donation platform on our website www.goodinthehood.org
You can make an EXTREME impact this holiday season!
Thank you so much for your partnership and support to benefit those with the greatest need.
Rev. Shawn Morrison
Founder & Executive Director