Atheists Adopting Families for the Holidays 2020
This is the seventh year for the Adopt-A-Family program. Past donations have purchased holiday gifts for children, helped families with food insecurities, and even paid bills to keep utilities on over the cold holiday months.
The donation stream was mainly through Facebook this year, but NIA opened up the Donation Portal on our website to accept donations as well. We ended up raising $1,806 total. Unlike other charities that collect buckets of money from the community, 100% of the donations we collected went to help local families in need right here in our communities. With the money we raised, we were able to help five families.
With the pandemic, it wasn’t difficult to find families who needed help over the holidays. Stories like the ones you’ll read below not only put our own lives into perspective but humble us immensely. We sincerely thank you for your donations this year, and thank you for helping us help others.
FAMILY 1
In November, our first family barely survived a house fire. Their home was a total loss. The husband sustained burns that prevented him from returning to work. At the time we helped this family of five, including two young children, they were living out of a hotel.
FAMILY 2
A single mother who has been negatively affected by the pandemic was extremely grateful for the generosity of everyone who donated to this year’s Adopt-A-Family. She realized the help from the NIA community would enable her to get through the holidays with car and other stresses off her back. She said, “Thank you again! With the support this gave my family, I was able to buy diapers and food and get much-needed prescriptions for my family. This has truly lifted a weight I couldn't possibly explain or wish upon anyone. Thank you again; hail satan.”
FAMILY 3
After a car accident and losing a job, our third family needed help with Christmas gifts for their five children. From the family, “Thank you all so much! I am so excited that my kids will be able to have Christmas, and just at the right time, too. Last week my car got totaled, and I live an hour from where I work. So we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! My kids will be so excited! So again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
FAMILY 4
Tragedy struck our fourth family. We knew the mother was in the hospital battling COVID-19 while we were working with them, but soon after, the mother lost her battle. The children are with a family member, and we were able to work with that family member to help these kids. Hopefully the help we gave them alleviated some of their grief.
FAMILY 5
The fifth family we helped was a single mom taking care of eight kids! Here is a message from the mother: “This year has been rough for me. After George Floyd, I knew I couldn't sit back and do nothing. I have been heavily involved with protests, the commission, and city council in my community. I have four boys of my own that I fight and live for, so I felt compelled to act. During all of this, my sister, who has had issues with alcoholism, was hit while intoxicated and with her children. When this happened I was given custody of all four of the children. She had severe injuries from the accident and needed to address her alcohol dependency. I have had eight kids now in my care for six months. . . . It has been a struggle, and with Christmas coming up, I have been stressed out, thinking about how I would be able to provide for them. I work two jobs, one during the week and another on the weekend. I also manage a social justice organization that I started and built to address issues that will directly affect my sons and nieces and nephews in the future. I am beyond blessed, thankful, appreciative, and overall joyed to have the help I have received. This program has taken all of the stress off of my back of wondering how I was going to provide. I will now have gifts under the tree for all of my kids and family. I can't express the level of gratitude I have for what you all have done for my family. I have never had any help, and I have always taken pride in being able to provide for my family on my own. I couldn't have done it this year without your help. I am thankful beyond measure.”
For NIA, belief or lack thereof is never a factor when helping families in need for the holidays.
Happy holidays, no matter how you celebrate!
Northern Indiana Atheists is a nonprofit established to fight state/church violations on a local level and defend the rights of atheists and other marginalized communities across Northern Indiana.
Membership is open to atheists and our allies who share our vision for a government that represents all citizens equally and our passion for serving our community. Your membership and donations amplify our voice and makes our impact even stronger. Become a member today at NorthernIndianaAtheists.com.