Cheney kids short of needed Christmas gifts

Local holiday charity struggles for support, seeks donations for next week's gift distribution

By BECKY THOMAS

Staff Reporter

Organizers of Christmas Gifts for Cheney Kids are baffled as the Dec. 15 distribution date draws near.

Donations as well as sign-ups to receive gifts are at an all-time low. Volunteers are asking those who can to donate gifts and cash to buy gifts, and are encouraging low-income families to sign up so that their children will have gifts to open this holiday.

“I'm thinking of the kids who may not get a gift if we don't get a lot of donations,” organizer Sally Shamp said. “This is the last minute.”

Christmas Gifts for Cheney Kids is in its 10th year of operation, and has grown in recent years. Last year the charity provided gifts to 208 local children, and each child received four gifts. This year, Shamp said she's worried that they won't have more than one gift for each child.

Cheney Outreach Center is helping coordinate the charity this year. Outreach started the program by giving local businesses vouchers to needy families so that they could buy gifts. Later, volunteers turned it into a gift and cash drive to distribute to those in need, with Outreach helping with income verification.

Outreach director Carol Beason said that as community service organizations settled back into the renovated Wren Pierson Community Center, Outreach decided to coordinate Christmas Gifts again.

“Now that we're all back together, we agreed to let the money come through Cheney Outreach,” she said.

Yet Beason has received a record low number of sign-ups so far, with just 64 children in line to receive gifts.

“We always have families that procrastinate. I just find this alarming,” she said. “If anything, the need is worse (than last year), because our numbers are up for everything else.”

Beason said some families planned to receive gifts from the Christmas Bureau in Spokane this year, but she said there are many who aren't able to travel there.

“This has always been about Cheney helping Cheney,” she said.

Shamp and Beason said they hoped numbers would pick up in the final days of donations. Folks can drop donations in boxes at local businesses and churches through Tuesday, Dec. 13 at noon. Cash donations can be sent to P.O. Box 444, Cheney, WA 99004 through the end of this week.

Families who can't afford to buy gifts for their kids this year are encouraged to contact the Outreach office at 235-2325. Sign-ups are accepted through distribution day Dec. 14, but Beason encouraged early sign-up to ensure families receive gifts.

“I don't turn people away, they just don't get the full benefits of the program,” she said.

Distribution will take place Wednesday, Dec. 14 at the Wren Pierson Community Center multipurpose room, 615 Fourth St.

Becky Thomas can be reached at [email protected].