Column: Is more collaboration the key to Aurora holiday drives?
Kudos to the community this holiday season, including our young people who are experiencing the joy of helping others less fortunate.
All day on Wednesday and into the evening, a group of students and staff from Rosary High School gathered to wrap and distribute gifts for struggling families in Aurora.
And we aren’t just talking about a small amount of presents.
A total of $15,000 was raised, some of which came from alumni who fondly remember this annual drive from their own days at the Catholic school.
That impressive amount will cover the holiday needs of 16 families, among them migrants new to the area including a mother, father and 7-year-old child who made a perilous journey here from Venezuela, arriving with nothing more than a backpack of possessions to their names, officials said.
Imagine the hardships they endured on this unimaginable trek.
Now imagine the appreciation they must feel to be embraced by such generosity.
Or imagine the smiles on the faces of 78 residents at Jennings Terrace nursing home, where earlier this week 10 Dunham Scholar students from Aurora Christian School delivered gifts through the school’s Jingle Bell Christmas Outreach, which began in 2020 after COVID-19 led to a pivot in the approach to community service.
People of all ages make up Aurora’s warm and welcoming community. And that generosity seems to always shine brightest during the holidays, even when high inflation and economic uncertainty continue to dominate our headlines and conversations.
Take, for example, last week’s plea by Fox Valley United Way for more donors to cover the 500-plus kids on its Holiday Assistance Program list. Just days before the deadline, there was a huge concern from CEO Deborah Rudel that, for the first time in the 12 years of this program, there would not be enough sponsors to cover that large list.
But when word got out about the dire situation, the floodgates opened. And when I spoke with Rudel again this week, she happily reported that every child now had a sponsor, including the last 23 picked up by a former Auroran who called that very morning to make sure not one child was left behind.
“How does this happen?” asked an incredulous and grateful Rudel. “The spirit of Christmas is in our community.”
David Smith could not agree more. A partnership between the city’s Youth Services Department and Purpose City Church is providing 550 gifts through Kane County’s Toys for Tots program.
A team of 50 or so volunteers will be wrapping the toys Saturday at the newly-formed church located in the former Ginger Creek building off Butterfield Road, says Smith, who is a contractor with Youth Services and a member of the congregation.
Also scheduled for weekend distribution are items collected by the Aurora Police Department’s annual Community Oriented Policing (COP) Toy Drive.
It’s not too late to make a difference, either.
Although the Aurora Salvation Army will be handing out gifts all day Friday for 1,200 kids (and more than 460 families) at its location on Redwood Drive, there is still a waiting list, said Salvation Army Major Gabriela Rangel.
What’s especially in short supply are items for kids ages 11-14, such as Minecraft, Legos and wireless headphones.
There will also likely be another 100 families added to that waiting list between Friday’s distribution and Christmas Eve, she said, as parents begin to realize they don’t have the financial means to purchase gifts. Those interested in helping are encouraged to call 630-897-7265.
No doubt there are plenty of other holiday efforts going on to help the needy, including food and clothing drives.
“It is,” said Rudel, “incredible how many programs are out there.”
But she also noted that “everybody struggled this year” to meet the need, “perhaps because there are limited resources and all of us are trying to serve so many.”
Which can’t help but raise the question: Is there a better way to get the job done?
Could it be more efficient if all these nonprofits came together, collaborating their resources and efforts to make sure there were no duplicates going on, and even more importantly, that every kid’s needs – year-round and not just involving toys – were being met?
Not to be mistaken with Rosary’s program by the same name, but do you remember Aurora’s huge Holiday Hopes toy and food drive from years ago?
1995 to be exact.
That’s when a column about 27 children who had fallen through Santa’s cracks spurred a massive community-wide Christmas drive that, in its first full year of operation, provided gifts for 6,000 children and 2,500 families and in 1997 won the prestigious Governor’s Hometown Award.
Chances are you donated to it on a regular basis, maybe even was one of the 400-plus volunteers in this well-oiled machine that drew on the synergy between nonprofits - including United Way, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities - as well as schools, churches and other groups.
But as often happens, leadership and employee changes affected momentum and after 20-plus years, this mammoth project gradually ceased to exist.
Which is why Fox Valley United Way began its Holiday Assistance Program in 2011. It’s why local churches and other organizations went back to creating their own giving trees and toy drives.
Rudel, for one, wonders if it’s not time to bring back that community-wide effort.
Donors often want to work with the agency they feel more committed to helping, she noted, adding there are certainly advantages to each group doing its own thing.
At the same time, “perhaps there is even more value in coming together to share our challenges, our successes, our opportunities and resources,” Rudel insisted, “And maybe even share our lists so that we can be sure to identify all those who are in need.”
Gabriela Rangel and her husband Joaquin, who have been leading the Aurora Salvation Army for less than four years, were not around when Holiday Hopes existed. But Gabriela, too, sees reason for more networking.
“Dealing with emergency assistance every week, I can tell you there is a lack of resources,” she said, then added a positive note that says a lot about this community.
“We always wait for miracles,” she said. “And somehow God provides them.”
