SOUTHERN COLORADO — An area-wide donation effort provided gifts to children who spend their holidays in foster care while lifting the burden of buying presents from the families who take them in.
Hope & Home created a free shopping event for foster and adoptive families in the area. The Christmas shop was set up in their building, where foster parents could choose from thousands of gifts. Tables were packed and broken down by age group.
Brianna Correa currently has three fostered kids in her care, but she and her husband have had more than 20 come through their home.
She knows how hard the holidays can get, "When you get kids, they literally come with just the clothes on their back and during Christmas time, well it may be the only gifts they get. Some have nothing, and you have to provide and make sure they feel just as loved as everyone else in your home."
Brianna went on to say what a beautiful experience fostering has been. She says places like Hope & Home help to lift the burden for families, "so we can focus on the kids and giving them the love they need."
This year more than 100 places across our area partnered with Hope & Home to gather donations for foster families.
"We could not do this without our community. On top of that, they really get to show foster parents and the kids that they care about them. It's not just us, not just an agency, not just a state. It's their community that gets to pour into these kids," explains Carissa Lightner from the operations department at Hope & Home.
Hope & Home takes donations year round and is in need of foster families as well.
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