Holiday Helpers Make a Difference in our Community

For fifteen years, Overlake’s Holiday Helpers program has helped make wishes come true and brought smiles to dozens of kids during the season of giving.

These past few weeks the Outreach Club has been working with Hopelink Avondale Transitional Housing to bring presents and gift cards to the children served by the agency.

The residents of Avondale Transitional Housing are in the process of moving from a state of crisis to a state of more stability. While that can be stressful for adults who are going through job loss, escaping domestic violence, or homelessness, the impact to children can be life-changing.

In fact, if your commute takes you on Avondale Road when the school buses are doing their job of dropping off or picking up students from Avondale Transitional Housing, then you perchance have seen the number of students in need.

“We see those kids every single day in the morning or the afternoon as the school buses pick up and drop off kids,” says Overlake’s Service Director and Outreach Club Advisor Jacqui Jackson “From that long line, you really get to see how many kids benefit from our service.”

This year, thirty families are on Overlake's list that is made up of newborns to late teens. Outreach Club begins working with Hopelink in October to identify, compile lists, assign families, and gather donations. This week the club took over a portion of Discovery Hall to prepare the donations for delivery. “It’s getting pretty hectic right now, but this is the part that is so exciting,” says Kristin L. (’19) who has been a part of Holiday Helpers for the past four years. “We’re going to be filling in requests and organizing them for delivery. It’s so awesome to see it and everybody coming together.” 

Outreach Club students will deliver the presents next week before heading off on winter break. Although Holiday Helpers is a part of the Upper School Outreach Club, many homerooms participate by supplying donations. Many Middle School kids make the shopping trip with their homeroom buddies to buy presents for a family they've chosen to support. Kristen says that was so influential in her decision to continue the service through high school. 

The impact on Avondale Park families is immeasurable. In addition to delivering gifts, the students will spend the evening playing with the children and sharing treats. Many Avondale parents send letters of thanks to our school for making their holiday special. “It continues every year because it’s different families every year. For all of these families, it’s a struggle to provide for the day to day needs for their family,” says Jackson. “It’s a great opportunity for us to love and serve our neighbors.”

While all the children’s wish lists have been filled, there’s still an opportunity for the community to help. Just drop off gift cards and wrapping supplies to the Front Office by December 19th. Those items will be included in the delivery so that adults at Avondale have something special too this holiday season.