We’re so happy with everything our volunteers accomplished over the 2022 holiday season. Together, we made Christmas a reality for foster children experiencing a tumultuous time.
We felt incredibly blessed when our social worker partners at Idaho Health and Welfare expressed their gratitude with a gift basket and a bundle of thank-you notes. These thanks belong to you, too, so we want to share some of the heartfelt messages sent to our office. We hope they touch you as much as they touched us!
One social worker shared:
“You all have brought so many excited smiles and helped create happy hearts by your selfless giving of gifts and countless behind-the-scenes hours to make Christmas special for these kids and their foster families. Thank you beyond words for all you do.”
Other messages were shorter but just as heartfelt. One social worker wrote, “You made Christmas one to remember!” while another shared, “I had many resource families who expressed thanks and appreciated the help.”
The cards reminded us that Fostering Christmas’s efforts often extend further than we realize. We all do this work for the kids — but in the process, we also help foster families and social workers with limited resources. A thank you card stated: “It was so nice to know this was being taken care of behind the scenes — so much less stress for us knowing our kids were cared for in this way!”
Some of our favorite messages indicated our gifts’ impact on the children we sponsored. A social worker shared, “The phone really helped Nate with staying connect[ed] with his family and me.” Another said, “Many of my kiddos wouldn’t have had Christmas without you.”
One card reminded us that the gifts we provide on Christmas morning are more than toys and electronics — they’re a message to foster children that someone cares about them.
The letter read: “My teen felt so cared for with three gifts. She really needed to feel the specialness that came from these gifts.”
A few social workers stressed the impact of the community coming together to help foster children. One said, “It was eye-opening to see so much giving by the community. Thank you for the love shown to the foster community.” Another wrote, “I’ve been doing this 6 years, and am always excited to see how the community blesses our kids!”
One of the longest messages we received touched us most and got to the heart of our work. We couldn’t close without sharing this excerpt:
“To all the sponsors, you are amazing! I wish you could see the faces of the children and youth that your donations bring. The BIG smiles, the sparkle in the eyes, the feelings of love, joy, excitement, the expressions of gratitude. It’s because of you and Fostering Christmas that it all happens. From the bottom of a social worker’s heart, thank you!”
While we can’t see their faces on Christmas morning, just imagining them keeps us going. We want to thank the social workers who took the time to share Fostering Christmas’s impact. And most of all, we want to thank every donor and volunteer who made this possible — we couldn’t have done it without you!