Adopt a family

Dear Friends of Harbor House,  

It is time for our Adopt-a-Family program again. We are hopeful you will volunteer to help make the holidays joyful for children in our community who might otherwise go without.  We all know what a difficult year 2020 has been, particularly to those who struggle in poverty. So many of our families who work in the hospitality and service industries have lost their jobs and are dealing with extreme hardships every day of this difficult pandemic. We currently have 500 children signed up and we have a waiting list of many others. I believe that with your help, we will be able to provide for all of these families. Our deadline for sign ups is September 30.
I hope that you will take part in this worthwhile effort to provide gifts for those we serve. These children have been trying to cope with the fact that many of their families are living in poverty worse than anything they’ve seen. We seek to offer a small measure of hope in an otherwise dark time, to all those who need it in our community.  If you are able to participate this year, please e-mail Sheri Groenveld (sgroenveld@harborhouseto.org) and please know how grateful we are for your support. 

“Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open--are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.”
Keeping Christmas by Henry Van Dyke

- Denise Cortes