2020 has tested us all in ways no one could have predicted, and so many parts of our lives look different from how they did a year ago. However, there’s at least one thing hasn’t changed: The community surrounding Oakland Family Services comes together to lift up those who need it most.

Oakland Family Services was able to give hundreds of children and families in need a holiday season to remember, all thanks to donors who rose to the occasion and supported our Thanksgiving Dinner and Adopt A Family programs. Both programs have had an incredible impact this year!

Thanksgiving Dinner

With contributions from 72 donors, our Thanksgiving Dinner program raised more than $6,000 and was able to provide holiday meals for 100 families in need! Gifts of all sizes, ranging from $10 to $2,000, helped give families something to be thankful for during a difficult time in their lives.

In a typical year, donors contribute various food items and volunteers gather to assemble totes full of complete Thanksgiving meals. This year, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we instead purchased a $60 grocery store gift card for each family to cover the cost of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and dessert.

“This Thanksgiving, our donors provided families in need with all they needed for a traditional dinner,” said Nikki Serra, Oakland Family Services volunteer and engagement coordinator. “In a time of stress and uncertainty, this allowed families to enjoy a meal free of the concerns of financial strain.”

Adopt A Family

Adopt A Family is an important holiday tradition at Oakland Family Services, and the need for this program was especially high this year. Many of the families we serve are coping with job loss, increased need for child care or reduced ability to work due to school closures, health care expenses and other financial stressors compounded by difficulties they may have already been facing.

Like our Thanksgiving Dinner program, Adopt A Family was a little different from previous years due to the pandemic, but our donors were still able to pull off holiday magic! Donors who adopted families were asked to purchase gift cards in lieu of presents, so families could shop in whatever way is most accessible to them.

Families provided wish lists that listed stores they would like gift cards for and items they hoped to purchase with their gift cards. Many wish lists included necessities like children’s winter coats and boots. Other commonly listed items were children’s books and toys, gas station gift cards, and household needs like cleaning supplies, bedsheets, and pots and pans.

Enough donors signed up to be matched with 227 families, which included 540 children. However, there were still many families on the program waiting list who were not able to be matched with donors. To ensure that these families could provide gifts for their children, Oakland Family Services switched gears to focus on raising money for our Adopt A Family fund, rather than recruiting donors to be matched with specific families. We also dedicated our 2020 Giving Tuesday campaign to raising money for the Adopt A Family fund.

“This year has been especially hard for so many of the families we serve,” Serra said. “Knowing so many were in need, we wanted to make sure we did all we could to provide them with support to help them have a happier holiday.”

More than 100 donors came together in an amazing group effort and raised more than $19,000 for the fund, which was used to purchase gift cards for an additional 69 families, including 176 children. Of this amount, $5,525 was raised through Giving Tuesday donations.

In total, our Adopt A Family program was able to provide gift cards for 716 children from 296 families. Oakland Family Services is so blown away by this response after such a challenging year for not only the people we serve, but also for our supporters. We are so grateful for every donor who adopted a family or contributed to the program fund. We’d also like to thank Beaumont Health Troy, St. Patrick Parish of White Lake and Penske for adopting 10 or more families.

“This year’s Adopt A Family program looked very different from years past, but the impact is just the same,” Serra said. “The gift cards given to families not only provide funds for presents, but also empower parents to pick out gifts for their children themselves. We’re so grateful to the many donors this year who helped make this holiday season memorable for our families.”