T&G Santa: Santa lends hand to Catholic Charities Worcester County

WORCESTER — With over 600 kids registered to receive Christmas gifts courtesy of the Catholic Charities Worcester County this holiday, Maritza Delacruz initially found herself struggling to find enough donations this year.

But thanks to the T&G Santa Fund and partner United Way of Central Massachusetts, the 84-year tradition that turns monetary donations into gifts for children will help ensure the area administrator for emergency services and her staff have all of the gifts they need to wrap and hand out to families this year.

“I feel blessed. I lived in public housing myself, I used to take food stamps myself, and I got myself to a point where I can run a program where I can give back to the community,” Delacruz said. “It's fitting for me to see the positive difference that I can make in other people's lives that are in need because I walked that walk.”

Since 1938, the T&G Santa Fund has helped ensure community agencies and organizations, such as the Catholic Charities Worcester County, are able to provide thousands of children presents to unwrap Christmas morning.

The mission of Catholic Charities, Delacruz said, is to provide services to people in need, to advocate for social justice, and to call the entire church and “other people of goodwill” to do the same.

Delacruz, who is picking up the gifts from the Salvation Army on Friday, said that she and her staff members will work together to wrap the gifts and prepare them for families to pick up.

Families who pick up the gifts will not only find T&G Santa Fund toys but also clothing, as well as a gift card for older kids who might not be interested in toys anymore.

Staying organized key

To keep things organized, Delacruz said she organizes the gifts by gender and age group, such as having male toys for ages 0 to 3 separated from female toys for the same age range.

The group held registration for toys over three days. Using the information from those registration forms, Delacruz will be able to make sure families not only receive the correct number of gifts but also that the gifts are appropriate for the age and gender of the kids.

“Before COVID, the tables were set up the same way they would come in and go table by table, choosing whatever toy they wanted for their kids,” she said. “But because of COVID we couldn't allow that to happen. It’s too many families, too much exposure, so what we do is we assign them the toys.”

But for Simone B., a single parent of two kids, she is happy to be able to have something under the tree for her kids, especially since one of her kids still looks forward to visits from Santa Claus.

“Knowing that I'm able to provide something is a really big blessing for me,” Simone said. “It means a whole lot to me that this opportunity is being offered here to receive help and also to give back help, is a big thing to me.”

Simone said receiving the gifts from Catholic Charities is especially meaningful, not only because of the programs it offers, such as legal assistance and a food pantry, but also that she likes to volunteer at the organization when she has the time.

“You can go from homeowner to homeless in a day … and there’s so many things they do for the community,” Simone said. “Anytime you have a need, you can always come here, there's always somebody to help you, and if they can't, they will direct you in the right way to go.”

Volunteers sought

The group also offers citizenship and immigration assistance, education programs and substance recovery programs.

People are also able to volunteer their time at Catholic Charities, located at 10 Hammond St., or make donations for goods that are later redistributed, such as diapers and wipes, or clothing.

“We have a clothing closet for people who are getting rid of their lightly used clothing,” Delacruz said. “We have a lot of immigrants, we have a lot of homeless coming in and taking clothes from the clothing closet, even if it's a pair of shoes that can help somebody else, it would be greatly appreciated.”

Due to the T&G Santa Fund and its partner, United Way, which identifies nonprofit family and child service organizations, such as Catholic Charities Worcester County, Central Massachusetts kids will have presents to unwrap Christmas morning.

Last year, more than 1,000 donors gave nearly $110,000, enabling the purchase of 10,627 toys and 1,691 books for 5,267 children in need.

The fund passed its $10,000 donation mark on Wednesday.

Catholic Charities Worcester County is among 21 acting as T&G Santa’s helpers this year.

The others are Canterbury Elementary School; Catholic Charities Southbridge; Centro Inc.; the state Department of Mental Health; Devereux Therapeutic Foster Care; Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health; Friendly House; Gardner CAC; The Guild of St. Agnes; Jeremiah’s Inn; Pernet Family Health Service; Rainbow Child Development Center; Salvation Army of Fitchburg, Greater Milford, and Worcester; Spanish American Center; Worcester Housing Authority; Webster Square Daycare Center; Winchendon CAC and Yes We Care.

To donate to T&G Santa online please go to telegram.com/santa.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: T&G Santa gives toys to Catholic Charities Worcester County