STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Giving takes many forms during the holiday season, and a group of volunteers in Sterling Heights knows how important presentation can be to make a gift feel special.
Members of Friends of Foster Kids volunteer their time and wrapping skills to make the holidays brighter for the children.
Theresa Toia, the founder of Friends of Foster Kids, told a story of a 17-year-old foster child receiving wrapped gifts for the first time at Christmas.
“She said, ‘What’s wrong?’ He said, ‘No, I just have never received a wrapped gift before,’” Toia said.
Friends of Foster Kids provides more than 2,000 children with gifts each holiday season.
“We have about two and a half weeks where we have to crank out these gifts for the foster children," Toia said.
People are matched with foster children to fulfill their Christmas wishes. All the gifts are dropped off at headquarters.
“When you’re talking almost 2,000 children, that’s a lot of gifts,” Toia said.
“Pretty much all of us are here to wrap and give back,” volunteer Melissa Drager said.
Every single donated gift gets wrapped. Once they’re wrapped the gifts are picked up by case workers and delivered to the foster children for Christmas.
Friends of Foster Kids is always in need of more donations. There are three binders full of gift requests, and they also need wrappers. If you’re interested in providing gifts for a foster child, you can be assigned a child by emailing Info@friendsoffosterkids.org.