Armful of Love 2011 Update

 

Thank you to all who helped support Armful of Love this year by donating gifts, making a monetary donation, shopping, sorting, wrapping, and making quilts and scarves. A special thank you is given to Sandy Johnson, Barb Myren, Jaime Way, and Heidi Zimmerman for their continued support and tireless work to help make this project a success.

 

We sponsored 141 individuals this year. The following is a breakdown of the number of individuals we sponsored from St. James and community agencies: St. James, 66; CAP Agency, 30; 360 Communities, 25; LSS Homeless Youth Program, 10; and Ebenezer Ridges Care Center, 10.

 

St. James’ members donated $13,506 in cash donations through Sunday offerings and $9,728 in gifts and gift cards from tags for a total of $23,184. Since 1987, St. James’ members have sponsored 849 families (2,728 individuals) and donated $213,636 in cash donations and $201,002 in gifts in kind for a total giving of $414,638.

 

In addition to the cash donations and gifts in kind, St. James’ members gave generously of their time. An estimated 650 hours were donated to Armful of Love this year!

 

Thank you for your generosity and for helping others have a blessed Christmas!

 

Sue Anderson, Armful of Love coordinator

Armful of Love Thank Yous

CAP Agency – letter from Jen Romero, Family Services coordinator

 

Dear Sue,

 

I just wanted to make sure that you and your parish know what an impact you have had on families this year. Here are some of the stories of fun had playing elves and delivering gifts…

 

 

#435: Arlene LOVED the boots, (they fit perfectly!) The homemade scarf and $50.00 gift certificate to Kohl’s were great!

 

#445: Agnes “Pat” also was very appreciative of the $75.00 Cub gift certificate and was going to wait until Christmas to open her present since she said it will be the ONLY gift she’ll get this year!

 

#460: Kenny was so excited he made the worker sit with him declaring that he was having Christmas right now! (This man had been literally homeless for 8 years living under a bridge in Shakopee, needless to say he hasn’t received a Christmas gift or had anyone to share it with for a very long time.) He opened the radio first, set it up and found Christmas music to play while he opened the rest. The worker said it was like sitting with a 6 year old boy.  

 

#425: Larry is in the VA hospital right now and has been in there a total of 160 days between this stay and the last stay. He has not had a single visitor the whole time and has been sitting there all alone. Jessica brought him his gifts to the hospital. We have been working with him for a couple of years and this is the first time she has ever seen him happy.

 

#465: The mother of the larger family was extremely emotional and very very grateful for all the help as we loaded up her car with all the gifts.

 

#475: Susan left town before she got her gifts. Unfortunately she was unable to adjust to being housed after years of homelessness. She will be back eventually. In the meantime, we gave her gifts to an elderly couple that came here from Colorado. The wife is very ill and they came here for medical reasons. Upon arrival to MN they found that their apartment was not ready like it was supposed to be and they had to stay in a hotel, which we helped them with. They have nothing and so to get an unexpected Christmas from complete strangers was such a welcome surprise for them. They are the kindest, sweetest couple we have ever served here.  

 

#415: Ben and Kailah were so happy! When Melissa arrived, Kailah had been having a bad day. They hadn't expected much this year. She quickly turned into a happy little girl wanting to open everything right now. Her husband encouraged her to wait until Christmas and she started trying to guess and shake things lightly.

 

I wish you could be with us when we deliver these to the families. Everyone is so appreciative. There are more people that received gifts, but these were the stories that stood out to me that I wanted to share with you. Thanks again for your kindness and generosity.

 

-Jen Romero and the Family Services Staff

 

Thank you from St. James family #230

 

Dear St. James,

Thank you so much for the presents, gift cards, and the gas gift cards. Without your help we wouldn’t have had a very nice Christmas. You made it extra special. Thanks again.

God Bless you,

Family #230 from St. James