Christmas arrives early for families, seniors
Generosity of businesses, individuals has been greater this year
GLORIA STRAVELLI Donna Madden (l-r), South Jersey district manager for Old Navy; Kathy Maude, public relations director for Family and Children’s Service, Oakhurst section of Ocean Township; and Liz O’Shea, manager of the Old Navy store at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, fill shopping bags at the store with gifts donated to Operation Sleighbells by employees of Old Navy stores.
Operation Sleighbells has been distributing gifts just a little ahead of Santa’s sleigh ride.
"This year people were extremely generous. I think people needed something to do, some way to help families in need. We had lots of gifts, and children are having a wonderful Christmas," said Linda Steel, director of development for Family & Children’s Service, Oakhurst.
Sponsored by the nonprofit agency, Operation Sleighbells this year distributed gifts to more than 1,200 Monmouth County children from 365 families and — for the first time this year — 60 senior citizens. Last year more than 1,000 children and their families received gifts through Operation Sleighbells.
Among the businesses supporting the agency’s holiday drive was the Old Navy store in Monmouth Mall, Eatontown.
"This is the second year we’ve collected for Family & Children’s Service," said Elizabeth O’Shea, store manager. "Employees from 20 stores throughout central New Jersey and Philadelphia donated new clothing, toys, gift cards, even food for children from newborns to age 17."
O’Shea, along with store personnel and staff from the agency, loaded shopping bags filled with gifts into a Family & Children’s Service van. The parcels were brought to collection points at the agency’s offices on Bath Avenue in Long Branch and a storefront on Route 35 in Oakhurst and were distributed on Dec. 17 and 18.
Other businesses whose employees donated to Operation Sleighbells include Lord & Taylor and Macy’s at Monmouth Mall; Nordstrom at Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Township; and Home Depot in West Long Branch.
In addition, students from Monmouth Regional and Red Bank Regional high schools, Rumson Country Day School, Atlantic Prep in Wall, and Cedar Drive School in Colts Neck collected gifts for the holiday drive.
"We say we’ve been doing it since 1909, since the inception of the agency," said Steel.
"The program was started by a group of women in Long Branch who got a carriage and horses and delivered toys and food to the needy in town," she said. The agency was then known as the Long Branch Society for the Improvement of the Poor.
Family & Children’s Service is celebrating its 92nd year of service, making it the oldest social service agency in the county.
Its mandate has grown to include adoption services, home health care, consumer credit counseling, adult protective services and counseling. The agency operates a food pantry and thrift shop in Long Branch, a volunteer center, and reading and intergenerational mentoring programs for students.
Operation Sleighbells begins in October, Steel said, when the agency begins to reach out to sponsors and donors, including local businesses, schools and individuals, for donations of toys, gifts and food.
Sponsors make a commitment to provide a family with gifts and holiday fare. "They do it from soup to nuts," Steel said, "providing all the gifts and often food baskets. We call it the Christmas of their dreams."
Sponsorships are rotated, Steel said, and families and individuals who do not have sponsors receive donated gifts.
The agency receives referrals for families through several sources, including its food pantry, thrift shop, home health aides, reading program and word of mouth.
Recipients are Monmouth County families, children and individuals who are in need, she said, often comprising a single-parent family headed by a mother, father, or grandmother. as well as foster families.
This year, Steel said, the agency was asked to include several families of World Trade Center victims by the Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth County Inc.
In addition, gifts were brought to the Parker Family Clinic in Red Bank to be distributed to clients of the clinic, which provides free health care to the uninsured.
For the first time this year, 60 homebound seniors were added to the list of Operation Sleighbells beneficiaries.
"We found out that there were homebound seniors in need from our home care aides and the counselors in our adult protective services program," she explained. "They were telling us that often their visits were the only ones these people had during the course of a week. We thought it was a great idea to bring something to the seniors for the holidays, and people have been very supportive in donating gifts."
Steel said homebound seniors received holiday stockings filled with stationery, stamps, phone cards, calendars, combs, soaps, socks, candy, cookies and other holiday treats. The gifts were delivered by the agency’s social workers or home health aides.
"People were extremely generous this year with their gifts," Steel said. "I think they are looking for something to do for someone else."