The Children’s Village works year round to give our children and families a happy holiday. Here are a few ways you can make the holidays brighter at the Village.

Donate traditional Thanksgiving side dishes as well as other cans or dry goods like stuffing mix, cans of cranberry sauce, yams, peas, pumpkin, peaches, boxes of mashed potatoes, biscuit mix, rice, pasta, and gravy mix. Baskets are given to families for the Holiday.

Donate new, unwrapped gifts for

• Children not going home for the Holidays.
• Young children in our Adoption/Foster Care program
• Adolescent boys and girls at The Sanctuary, our Shelter for Runaway and Homeless Youth

Adopt a Cottage by giving each boy a gift (12-15 boys to a cottage) OR one cottage gift to be shared (ping pong table, Entertainment Console, Sony PlayStation, DVD, CD Player, Pool table, etc.)

Donate gifts suitable for mothers, fathers and siblings that the boys can wrap and take home for their families. These gifts will be put in our Santa’s Store, when youngsters “buy” gifts for their family members. We especially need gifts for dads and older siblings.

If you would prefer to make a donation so that children may participate in a special holiday activity:

• $35 pays for a teenager to go skiing (The Village has a really good deal with a local ski area and this price includes rental, ski lift, food and transportation).
• $150 would allow staff to take 10 of the younger children snow tubing.
• $200 pays for a whole cottage to go to the movies or bowling.
• $400 pays for a two-day winter camping trip for 8 boys.
• $500 will allow 10 kids to go to a Knicks game or to see a holiday show.

Most asked for gifts:

• MP3 or iPods or accessories (speakers, carrying case, gift cards to download music)
• Electronic games of all kinds
• Games for Play Station 2 or 3, Xbox or Xbox 360
• Wool fitted hats with or without sports logos
• Nike sweatbands
• Gift certificates to any music store, popular clothing store, or variety store (Old Navy, Gap, Target, Wal-Mart)
• Small remote control cars (Radio Shack, Kay-Bee and Toys R Us)
• Sweatshirts (XL, XXL and above) with or without sports team logos
• Basketballs or other sports equipment
• Perfume and jewelry for Moms or girls at The Shelter
• Aftershave, wallets, watches and other items for Dads or older boys
• New soft toys and board games

Volunteer your time at Santa’s Store on Thursday, December 13th from 12:30 - 5:00 p.m. (or any block of time). We need assistance displaying merchandise as well as helping the boys to select their gifts.

For further information, please contact Stephanie Edwards, Volunteer Coordinator at sedwards@childrensvillage.org or (914) 693-0600 ext. 1819 or Catherine Lopez at ext. 1587.