Operation Christmas To Bring Holiday Cheer Amid Pandemic

ROMEOVILLE, IL — The holidays might be different this year with the raging pandemic, but Romeoville is continuing its tradition of bringing joy to those who might not be able to help their children celebrate Christmas due to financial difficulties.

Operation Christmas has existed for over 35 years now, and although the program has evolved over time, one thing remains the same — residents pitch in to provide gifts for families in need. This two-tiered program begins with families in need of assistance registering with the village while generous adopters register to be the ones to provide those gifts, said marketing coordinator of the village Kathy Beckmann.

Once the program coordinator determines that each family do indeed meet the program’s eligibility requirements, then families are matched up to adopters based on the number of kids. Adopters indicate how many children they are able to help.

"We give the adopters a guideline of one outfit (top and pants) plus at least one toy for each child 0-12 years old. For kids 13-18, we ask for a gift card to a clothing store for $30 plus an additional $20 gift card for a non-clothing item that the teen may want," she said.

Family assignments are given to the adopters usually the week before Thanksgiving, so they can avail the Black Friday deals. The adopters have a few weeks to shop for their family (ies). Gift drop off is the Thursday before Christmas and gift pick up is Friday.

Beckmann said Romeoville's marketing department have successfully coordinated the program for years. Many adopters are repeat participants while every year they receive new adopters willing to help. Several area businesses also participate, and sometimes it is a company-wide effort to adopt one or more families.

"In 2019, 84 families met eligibility requirements and thus were adopted. Two hundred and thirty-three kids received a better Christmas because of the generosity of 60 adopters," she said.

The coronavirus pandemic cannot keep Romeoville from spreading Christmas cheer and the only difference this year is that social distancing and masks will be required when the adopters drop off their gifts and when the families pick them up.

"This is a great program to help those families in need during the holidays," said Mayor John Noak. "We are fortunate to have businesses such as Fat Ricky’s that assist with the program as well as generous adopters who provide gifts to the families in need."

For more news and information like this, subscribe to the Romeoville Patch for free. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here. Don't forget to like us on Facebook!