Again this year, The Village Bank and the City of Newton Department of Health and Human Services are combining efforts in order to brighten the upcoming holiday season for local children who may otherwise be overlooked. The ninth annual Holiday Gift Drive is now underway and runs through December 12.
The Bank and the City are encouraging local residents, businesses and community partners to once again play an active role in the Holiday Gift Drive through donations of new, unwrapped gifts for children ages newborn to 10. Suggested gifts include age-appropriate DVDs, games, sporting goods, and toys. A donation of gift certificates purchased from local merchants will also benefit businesses in the community.
The Village Bank’s Newton branches in Auburndale, Newtonville, Nonantum, Newton Highlands, Waban and West Newton are serving as Holiday Gift Drive collection sites.
Last year’s Holiday Gift Drive provided gifts for the young children of more than 200 income-eligible families.
Thank you for posting this, V14.
For a variety of reasons, the holidays can be a particularly tough time for many in our community. One of them is because in Newton, too many families need choose between paying for food or heat versus buying their kid a gift during the holidays.
This reality, in turn, negatively affects a child’s social and emotional wellbeing, which consequently often results in, amongst other things, poor performance in school. Over time, this compounds, which leads to many children in these shoes not living up to their full potential. And because of the dramatic gap between the rich and poor in Newton, the impacts of this problem can’t be underemphasized.
If you want to make an immediate and very real difference in our community, please join me in donating what you can to this year’s Holiday Gift Drive.