Last December, a nondescript moving truck pulled into the drive of 1000 Howard Avenue. When the back door rolled up, the entire cargo area was bursting with green and red wrapped presents of all shapes and sizes. As Santa’s special helpers, the good folks at Louisiana Dental Center trotted over to unload their bountiful haul of bikes, board games, and stuffed animals for CCANO’s annual toy drive. Because of the generosity of donors like these, 1,531 of our clients received Christmas gifts or health bags, and 475 clients had a traditional Thanksgiving meal last year.
The Thanksgiving and Christmas season should be a time of love, family, and warmth, but for many of our clients, it is a reminder of struggle and loss. To provide the happiest of holidays, we host an annual Thanksgiving food basket and Christmas gift drive. Individuals, churches, and companies can “adopt” clients by purchasing Thanksgiving food basket items or Christmas gifts and then delivering them to our office on a designated day. It is a truly heartwarming sight to witness the outpouring of support, and we especially appreciate those who participate in both the Thanksgiving and Christmas donations.
If you would like to brighten a family’s holiday, email Emily Stieber at [email protected]. Because we understand that the holidays are busy, we have an online donation option for Thanksgiving where we will fill a food box for a family when you contribute $50. The Thanksgiving donation page will be live from October 28th to November 12th and can be found here. Thank you in advance for your help this holiday season!