Who
Our program brings holiday joy to children and youth in the Richmond City, James City County, Petersburg, Hopewell and Hanover child welfare systems (foster care and CPS-involved families) who would otherwise not be celebrated.
We serve a diverse group of young people—from infants to teenagers; those in group homes, kinship placements, or with a teenage parent in care; and those who celebrate Christmas or Kwanzaa. They have various needs, requesting everything from video games and baby dolls to new shoes and winter jackets.
Sponsors choose one or more specific children to ensure that child's holiday is bright and celebrated!
What
Our Wish List Program allows sponsors to personally choose a specific child they want to support. You might select a little girl who celebrates Christmas and dreams of a baby doll, or maybe a young man in a group home who is a huge LeBron James fan. We provide a detailed list of the child’s specific wishes and essential needs.
We recommend a minimum spend of $150 per child (though sponsors often report spending more to fulfill all items). Knowing this is a significant financial commitment—and that these gifts are the child's sole celebration—we encourage you to share this vital need with your social network, employee group, or family to collectively provide this joy.
When
A list of children needing a sponsor for the holidays will be released on October 28th via email and social media.
Sponsors will then have time to shop for their child and prepare the gifts before delivering them during the week of November 17th. You can drop your gifts off during that week at one of our drop off locations (see below) or at our Drop-Off Event on Saturday, November 22rd (10 AM–1 PM) in Richmond's Scott's Addition area.
We then sort and deliver all gifts to the agencies by early December. If your gifts include especially large items like a bike or toddler bed, please email caroline@worthdays.org to coordinate a direct delivery with us.
Giving Guidelines
Gifted items must be new. We are unable to accept any used items (if you have a unique situation and have a question about this please, send us an email at holidays@worthdays.org!).
When able, please include gift receipts. We encourage you to include an envelope where these receipts can be placed for easy finding. Just with any other child and teenager sometimes clothes don’t fit even if you purchased the right size.
For children ages 13+, we encourage you to consider that a portion of your gift be in the form of a gift card. This not only allows youth to get items that they desire most but also giving them experience with purchasing, budgeting, making independent decisions, etc.
We strongly encourage you to include at least one relevant book because of our belief that reading is good for all children/youth and many kids in foster care have limited access to libraries and books in general. Here are some good ideas to start with.
When we release information about each child, we will have provided you with the most information we have been given and have asked social workers to be as detailed as possible. Some of the wishlists will be very detailed where others will require more creativity on behalf of the sponsor. Please pay close attention to the wishlist as some will include specific information. Some wishlists will even include specific information such as the race the child most identifies with and what holiday they are accustomed to celebrating. Social workers are incredibly busy and may not be able to answer additional questions about the young person requiring the sponsor to get creative!
Gifts can not be fully wrapped! There are other creative ways that allow us to “see” the gifts such as using small gift bags inside of a large duffel bag or adding tissue paper/ribbons to the outside of a piece of luggage. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that gifts are contained in a piece of luggage, duffel bag, plastic “Rubbermaid style” tote, laundry basket or other reusable storage container. This allows us to simultaneously address the issue of children in foster care carrying their belongings in trash bags from place to place. PLEASE DO NOT PACKAGE GIFTS IN LARGE PAPER GIFT BAGS (smaller gift bags inside a piece of luggage, tote or duffel are fine).
Prior to delivering your gifts, it would be incredibly helpful if you would print out and complete this inventory list. This helps social workers know what is included in the gift to the child and saves them time of going through the gift prior to giving to the child. Don’t feel like you have to write every single thing included in the gift however marking the most important things would be great along with including any special notes about the gift. Please place this document at the top of the gifts so that we can easily find.
We will likely not ever know how the holiday went for the child you will sponsor. We, however, hope that through this giving opportunity you feel the intrinsic value of helping a child experience a small window to joy during the holiday season. We are so grateful that you have joined us in this conspiracy of love for the foster care community!
Have a question that is not addressed here? Email holidays@worthdays.org and we are happy to answer it!
FAQ
You mentioned that your recommended amount spent per child is $150. Is it okay if I spend more than that? Yes, of course! The kids we serve are very rarely showered with extra so we say go for it! If you are working as part of a group and want to sponsor multiple children and need guidance about the number you should sponsor, don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly for guidance!
Can I wrap the gifts? As much as we would LOVE to have the gifts all wrapped nicely with bows it simply won’t work for our program. For many reasons, the social workers need to be able to “see” (without too much work) the gifts. As long as it is something that we can fairly easily view the gift then it is fine. We DO encourage you to get creative and give the items a festive look! This can be done by adding tissue paper, bows, small gift bags contained in a larger bag, decorating a plastic tote, etc.
Can you tell us how the child responded when they received the gifts? We most likely will never hear how the gifts were received however we are confident the children we serve will be surprised to be celebrated.
Can I include a card? Yes, please include a card and feel free to sign it. We can not, however, include personal contact information in the cards. You can sign the card “the Jones family” or signed with your first names.
Am I allowed to know the name of the child I sponsor? Yes, we typically share the first name of the child you are sponsoring. In unique situations involving Child Protective Services cases, we might only be able to provide the first initial.
Why do some of the entries on the list say FAMILY or SIBLINGS? If you are working with a group and would like to celebrate multiple children, consider choosing a family or siblings to sponsor! When signing up for a family or siblings, you are sponsoring EACH person listed. It’s great when you can team up with others to help out!
7. Why is it important to share the race of the child? Typically after gift assignments are made, we share the child’s identifying race (if the family or agency has voluntarily provided it). We share this information because we believe it is helpful for children to receive items that are reflective of themselves, when possible. For example, knowing a child's race ensures that requested items like baby dolls, makeup, or toiletries are an match for them.
8. Everyone on the list has been sponsored - are we too late? We have an amazing village that blows us away each year with their generosity! If you have come to this page and there are no children currently available who need a sponsor, please complete THIS FORM to be placed on our standby list. This will allow us to notify you when we add. a young person to our holiday list (typically means a family has experience an imminent crisis and the social worker has determined they are in need of a holiday sponsor).
9. My company or group would like to help! Are there other ways to get involved? We love it when people are passionate about ensuring kids in our local child welfare system are celebrated and their needs met. Check out this page that gives more information about other sponsorship opportunities for this program! We also typically need birthday box sponsors during the months of December and January and would love for you to help with that, too! We are encouraging companies to join our Joyful Battle of Lights to help bring joy to kids throughout the year! We can tailor opportunities to corporate groups and encourage you to reach out to learn more.
Holiday Drop Off Location Information
We would love for you to deliver your gifts at our Drop-Off Event on Saturday, November 22nd, from 10 AM to 1 PM, located at Firefly Hall on the Shineforth campus (formerly UMFS) at 3900 West Broad Street. In addition to this event, we have arranged for our business partner drop off locations to access deliveries on our behalf during the week of November 17th-21st.
Please note that days and hours vary based on location.
Scott’s Addition: Worthdays Office @ UMFS, 3900 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA, Worthdays Office; Wednesday 10-2:30pm; Thursday 12-3:30pm; Friday 12-2:30pm (find directions here)
Short Pump/Goochland: St. Matthews United Methodist Church, 1706 St. Matthew’s Lane Richmond, Va; Monday-Thursday 8:30-3pm (email to contact)
Moseley: Bella Cuttery, Moseley, VA; Dates/hours variable, including after hours (email to contact + for address)
Tri-Cities: ACE Hardware, 27 Dunlop Village, Colonial Heights, VA; Monday-Friday, 8:30-6pm (call (804) 766-4223 if needed)
Mechanicsville: Church of the Redeemer, 8275 Meadowbridge Rd, Mechanicsville, VA; Monday-Thursday 8:30-4:30pm (call 804) 746-4911 if needed)
James City Co: James City County Human Services Center, 5249 Olde Towne Rd. Williamsburg, VA; Monday-Friday 9-5 (leave at the attention of Karen Goins)
