Coatesville CYWA Christmas Project

2009

Project Santa wrapping event will take place at 2pm on December 19, at the Holiday Inn in West Chester!

Welcome friends and family! I added this page to my team website to make getting information out in a more efficient manner.

For the past few years, my family has been involved with the Coatesville CYWA, and has provided Christmas gifts for many of the children in their programs. The CYWA has several different programs, including a women’s shelter, a rehab program for women, an at-risk teens program, community outreach as well as a daycare program.

It is our mission to make sure that every child that will be at the shelter on Christmas morning will wake up to a pile of fun gifts with their name on them. We have been asked each year to help out with the older children and teens. Many of the toy-giving programs out there have an age limit of 10 or 11. This means that for some families, their younger children may get toys, while the older children do not get anything.

This year, as with last year, the need is greater than ever, and unfortunately there are fewer corporate and individual donations available. Last year they lost a major sponsor, QVC. So we need as much support as we can get!

We initially did all of this within the confines of my immediate family. As people heard about it and wanted to be part of it, we began spreading the word. I have contacted practically everyone I know through friends, family, flyball, dogs, work, wherever.J

Many people seem to give to a Charity during the holidays, so we wanted to put the word out about this one. It is nice to know exactly what your donations are going to, and to be able to be involved at a close level.

There are many ways in which you can help us out. The easiest thing for us is to get monetary donations. My sisters and I get the wish list for the younger kids and go out and shop for them. For the older children & teens, we usually get them gift cards, so that they can get the specific items that they may want.

This year there are many infants and babies on the list, in particular from the rehab program. Many of these little ones were born addicted, and have had a rough start to life. So any infant basics such as hats, blankets, pacifiers and diapers are urgently needed. Any of you who knit or crochet, we would love some home made blankets and hats!

If just giving money doesn’t do it for you, I can give you a specific child (or 2 or 3) that you can shop for. That is always a blast! We will also be collecting donations of new toys at our tournament this weekend (11/14-45^th).

I do have a few guidelines that we try to stick to when buying toys for these kiddos. Try and avoid toys with a zillion small pieces, that’s a no-brainer. And a personal thing for me is to not buy “knock-off” brands or dollar store items. I would rather get a smaller authentic toy than a larger fake one. Remember, Santa is bringing these, and he is the real dealJ

Once we have gathered all of the toys and items, we will have wrapping extravaganza! It will be at the Holiday Inn in West Chester PA, right on Rt 202. They have been gracious enough to loan us a room to work inJ Everyone is welcome to join us, it is always so much fun, and a great way to get into the holiday spirit! We hope to do that on 12/19, I will send out details as soon as I confirm it.

In closing, I just want to thank all of you who helped us out last year. We were overwhelmed at the number of children in need, and we were just as overwhelmed with the response that we got from all of you! Even in these tough financial times, you found ways to help out some deserving children, and made their holiday a little more memorable.

Call it what you like, good Karma, paying it forward…it is just one way to express gratitude for all that we do have.
Merry Christmas!