The Orange County Rescue Mission is seeking more gifts for adults through Dec. 13 for its annual Christmas event for its residents in the Village of Hope.
The event allows parents to pick out and give out toys for their children, but also does the same for the children to return the favor.
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“One thing that might be lost on people is that when a family is on the streets or coming out of homelessness or are in a near homeless situation the parents are not in a position to give their kids a Christmas present, and it’s a loss of dignity,” Orange County Rescue Mission President Bryan Crain told City News Service.
“And even if they come into our program where the gifts are provided that dignity can be lost if the gifts are given directly to the kids. So we stage all the gifts in the cafeteria and everyone gets a coupon and they get to pick out the gift for their children, so they have the dignity of giving their kids the gifts. It’s a little twist on the generosity while still maintaining the dignity of the parents who otherwise don’t get the joy of giving their kids a gift.”