The countdown is on for the holidays as people scurry to buy and wrap presents, bake treats and connect with loved ones.
But for those who struggle even to buy groceries, never mind gifts, the season isn’t full of festive fun.
Some may not have loved ones to spend time with, or even a home to call their own. For them, the holiday season brings feelings of loneliness.
But the Northland is filled with a number of organizations – and generous people who work with them – that reach out to those people in hopes of making the season a little brighter.
Based in Gladstone, the Assistance League of Kansas City is an all-volunteer organization. Kansas City is one of 124 chapters of the national organization, which began in 1923 in California. Locally, the chapter offers 10-community-based programs.
The local chapter has two auxiliaries: Heartland for adults and Assisteens for youth in seventh through 12 grades. Combined, about 350 active volunteers provide more than 55,000 hours helping more than 16,000 children and adults year round.
Programs include a wide spectrum of assistance, from Assault Survivor Kits for victims of sexual assault to Operation School Bell that provides new clothing for students. Its ReSALE Thrift Shop provides 75 percent of the revenues to fund the Assistance League’s programs.
While the Assistance League works year round to make a difference in people’s lives, it focuses on several Christmas-related activities with a specific goal.
“Our goal is to see that each deserving person or family has ample food and that each child has gifts to open on Christmas morning,” said Becky Clark, assistant treasurer and longtime volunteer. Clark joined the organization while working as a music teacher in the North Kansas City School District.
“When I was still teaching I got tired of writing checks and I wanted to get actively involved in helping people,” she said.
Today, Clark is chairwoman of one the Assistance League’s holiday projects: its annual poinsettia sale that supports its Operation Child in Need, a program providing supplies for students and their families. Sales started in September and the group sold 939 of the festive holiday plants.
“I personally moved, organized and delivered 686,” said Clark with a laugh.
The Assistance League also works with Synergy to provide gifts for children and adults, and through its Senior Outreach Service sponsors holiday parties at senior care facilities.
