With only five weeks until Christmas, Ware County Children’s Initiative Executive Director Susan Haddock is concerned about families facing the holidays in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
“Christmas is a big concern,” said Haddock. “So many people were struggling to begin with. Some people missed a week of work and they had to spend more money. Some people went without power and either lost the contents of their refrigerators or paid $20-$25 a day for gas to keep a generator running.
“Families who may be hurting are not thinking about Christmas right now,” continued Haddock. “They’re thinking, “How do I get this tree out of the middle of my house? Where am I going to stay while my house is repaired? Even with homeowner’s insurance, there are still deductibles and other costs. They’re going to get to Christmas and realize there’s no money. How do we make sure that our kids are taken care of in the next couple of months?”
Haddock said she’s concerned with many utilities suspending payments and late fees, people may not be thinking about the end of grace periods when those deferred payments are due.
“Some people will buy Thanksgiving dinner and think, ‘It’s not a big deal if I don’t pay the power bill this month since there’s no collections and they’re not going to shut it off.’ Those people are going to get to December and realize it’s Christmas and they have several months bills due.”
According to Haddock there are some people seeking assistance who have never sought help before. There are also people who have been organizers and donors for many charitable events who are now in need of assistance themselves.
“The need’s going to be bigger this year,” asserts Haddock.
In order to prepare for the holidays Haddock wants to pair existing programs with community members able to help those programs handle more children.
“There are several programs in the area which help for Christmas, but they’ve already collected children’s names,” said Haddock. “Those programs are in place, the kids are selected, the tags are ready to be picked up.”
“We’re going to have to all band together as a community to make Christmas happen for the kids.”
“I don’t want is a new program to be created,” explained Haddock. “I’d love people who already have a program in place to let us know how we can support them. They may normally sponsor 40 kids, but if other people came and supported, could they handle 80 kids? We have people doing Christmas programs well. I want to figure out how we can support them so this year they can handle more.”
If you know of an group that may help, or if you can volunteer, contact Susan Haddock, Executive Director Ware Children’s Initiative Family Connection at [email protected] or call 229-563-6357.
