Desert Mission
Adopt a family this season through John C Lincoln’s Desert Mission. You can purchase toys, clothing or other practical gifts for your adopted family and bring them to the Food Bank. If you need assistance, call the food bank to pick up your gifts. If you can’t do the shopping yourself, you can mail a check to Desert Mission Food Bank, 9929 N. 4th St., Phoenix, AZ, 85020 for the Adopt A Family program. For more information, contact Sally Moore at 602-331-5792 or e-mail Sally.Moore@jcl.com.

City of Phoenix
The city of Phoenix Human Services Department is sponsoring its annual Holiday Adopt-A-Family Program. Sponsors are needed to provide toys, clothing and household items for participants in the department's social service programs. Participants are low-income families who are experiencing difficult times and would not otherwise be able to provide gifts for their children. For more information or to volunteer as a sponsor, call 602-262-4520.

Florence Crittenton
Florence Crittenton invites you to be a part of its Annual Holiday Drive. The nonprofit organization is accepting new, unwrapped gifts now through the end of December. The goal is to raise enough donations to present each of the 70-plus girls in the Residential Group Home, Scottsdale Girls Ranch Home and Transitional Living Homes with a special gift during the holidays. Gift items may be dropped off at Florence Crittenton (715 W. Mariposa St., Phoenix), or call 602-288-4567 to arrange for the items to be picked up by a member of our staff. A list of items requested for the girls also can be provided.

Be a Santa to a Senior
Now in its fourth year, Home Instead Senior Care’s Be a Santa to a Senior program has brightened the lives of hundreds of thousands of older adults with gifts and companionship.
The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) has estimated that as many as 60 percent of nursing-home residents receive no regular visitors. Seniors with no family and friends may the feel the loneliness of the holidays more than those with a strong support network.
Participating local nonprofit organizations, including East Valley Senior Services and The Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, have identified needy, orphaned and isolated seniors in the community and provide those names to Home Instead Senior Care. Christmas trees, which are up in all area local Sam’s Clubs, feature ornaments with the first names only of the needy seniors and their respective gift requests. Holiday shoppers can pick up an ornament, buy items on the list and return them unwrapped to the store, along with the senior ornament attached.
Home Instead Senior Care then enlists the volunteer help of its staff, senior-care business associates, nonprofit workers and others to collect, wrap and distribute the gifts to these seniors. A citywide gift-wrapping day, when hundreds of the presents to be wrapped, will be held on Dec. 18.
If you or someone you know is interested in volunteering to help with the citywide giftwrapping day, contact Dawn Fiala at 480-827-4343. Businesses are encouraged to contact the local Home Instead Senior Care office about adopting groups of seniors.

Salvation Army
Everyone is familiar with the Salvation Army’s Holiday Angel program, which can be found in an major shopping mall and large retail store throughout the Valley. But did you know that the Salvation Army also provides holiday meals to the hungry?
Each holiday season, The Salvation Army provides thousands of meals for needy families across the Valley of the Sun. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, traditional Christmas dinners are served to all who attend and are home-delivered to homebound individuals.
Volunteers are needed to set up, serve, clean and usher at Christmas dinner, and to deliver holiday meals to families and shut-ins across the Valley. Home deliveries take place between 8 and 11 a.m. Christmas Day; about five homes are given per driver, and you can specify what part of town you are interested in delivering to. Pickup of meals is at 628 N. 3rd Ave. (at Fillmore).
You can also help prepare (Dec. 23-24) and/or serve Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. You must be at least 16 years old to volunteer for the dinner service.
For more information, call 602-267-4117.