The Women and Children's Center of the Sierra is looking to help more than 300 families through their Adopt a Family Holiday Program.
The deadline is next week to give those families their presents, but the center still has more than 100 families that need to be adopted.
Over the past two years, the center has been able to help all families that sign up through the program.
They're looking for more help from the community so they can make sure they can do it again this year.
"So, this program has been going on for quite a while," said Alex Nevarez, Co-Executive Director for the Women and Children Center of the Sierra. "So how it works is we have families in the community come in and make a wish list. Those wish lists are sent out to donors who graciously adopt them, buy all their Christmas gifts, bring them in and then we distribute them to the family."
With more than 100 families still waiting to be adopted, the center has pushed back the deadline to December 20 at 5 p.m.
If you would like to help you can call the center at (775) 825-7395, Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
You can also email them at holidayhelp@waccs.org.
You can even donate presents right from your phone or computer.
"So, something that can make things a little bit easier is if you go on our social media, we have an Amazon wish list, and you can buy the gifts directly to there and they'll be shipped directly to us," Nevarez said.
This year, the center says the need has grown a lot.
"In this year alone, we have seen such an increase in need just in things like diapers and basic necessities," Nevarez said. "Mostly because of the increased cost of living, but there were other local nonprofits who recently closed so we had an influx of people come and use our resources."
One mother we spoke with says she appreciates the helping hand they provide, especially around the holidays.
"When someone adopts one of the families it’s important because it enables you to make other purchases and it saves you time in finding and wrapping the gifts and the center helps with all of that," said Carolina Partida, Client with Women and Children's Center of the Sierra, translated by Vanessa Vancour. "And that enables us to also spend more time with our family and prepare the Christmas dinner. And it saves us a lot of time and money."
Partida says with the help her family has received, she wants to pay it forward.
"I’ve been bringing my children to this center since they were really young, and now my children come to the center to volunteer. It teaches the children that we can help others, and it’s a beautiful experience both my children and I have had at this center, because now they come to the center to help with whatever is needed. This center helps so much and it’s so good for the community."
The center says that even if all families aren't adopted, they will still receive gifts from other donations.
