|
SAO seeks donations
for annual Christmas Caravan
By Kevin Milliken for La Prensa
Spanish American Organization (SAO)
secretary Carmen Barbosa easily could be considered one
of Santa’s elves this time of year: busy preparing the group’s
annual effort to help six Latino families celebrate a brighter
Christmas. But that job is much bigger this year, simply because
the families in need are bigger.
“We’ve been gathering for about 15 years, said Ms. Barbosa. “We
gather to honor families in need. We supply them with food,
clothing, and toys for the children.”
SAO typically spends more than $1,000 out of the organization’s
treasury each holiday season. But the families that will be
helped this year have 20 children among them, making the
tradition a bit more difficult. The group obtains the names of
needy families from Queen of Apostles Elementary School.
“We’ve got some very big families. We’ve got two families with
six children and two adults—a grandparent and a parent,” Ms.
Barbosa explained. “The other ones are three and four children.”
HoneyBaked Ham,
based in Maumee, donates six hams each holiday season. The
Andersons, also in Maumee, provides a gift card each year,
which Ms. Barbosa uses to purchase potatoes, fresh fruit, and
other staples for a typical holiday meal. The SAO secretary also
does all the Christmas shopping for the children.
The effort culminates each year in a mid-December party at her
son’s house in the Old South End, where club members gather to
sort and arrange care packages—some the size of a box that would
fit an artificial Christmas tree. The group shares covered
dishes and celebrates the holidays together with the meal. The
Christmas Caravan then heads their separate ways to hand-deliver
the donated goods to Latino families throughout Toledo.
“We have a lot of generous people. We ask them to bring food,
food in lots of six,” Ms. Barbosa said. “All of the food is
donated. Everybody just brings lots of food, lots of food.”
All of the families being helped this year are single-parent
households. However, some of the families may not qualify for
other holiday-related assistance, such as Toys for Tots
or the Salvation Army. So SAO tries to help fill in those
gaps to ensure Latino families in need get some holiday help.
But the sheer number of children is where the greater expense
will be this year for the group.
“It’s a struggle because we know we’re going to spend a minimum
of $50 per child,” she said. “We’re buying them a toy of their
choice. We try to give them what they want, because that may be
the only time of year that they get the gift they want.”
SAO will accept cash donations to help offset the cost of the
annual tradition. Checks can be made out to the Spanish-American
Organization or SAO, and may be mailed to SAO, c/o Carmen
Barbosa, 1103 Rochelle Rd., Toledo, Ohio 43615.
“Members and friends are so generous—because they also are so
thankful,” Ms. Barbosa said. “They are happy to receive it. We
are just so happy that we do this. Makes me feel good, because I
know it is for other people.”
|
