Every year, the Burlington County Times’ Give A Christmas program helps families in need.
In this year of the coronavirus pandemic, that classification includes more county families than ever, according to Food Bank of South Jersey officials, who have seen an unprecedented spike in first-time food recipients.
This year’s Giving Tuesday offers a chance to help the large number of families who are struggling this holiday season. There are many different ways to help, too.
Donations to Give A Christmas will help the BCT and its partner in the effort, the nonprofit organization NJ 211, buy $50 Walmart gift cards for families in need. Contributions to other county organizations who are collecting money this Tuesday will help them feed the hungry, run community programs and even educate students while warding off the virus, among other initiatives.
The annual Giving Tuesday tradition comes after people who are doing okay have bought their own holiday gifts on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. The Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact started Giving Tuesday at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, a community center, in 2012.
Its goal was to harness “the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities,” according to center officials. And in the past eight years, through spreading the gospel of giving online, it has done just that.
Last year, 13 percent of the U.S. adult population participated in the giving, donating $1.97 billion overall, according to the organization’s website. “Official Giving Tuesday movements” have also now hit 75 countries.
Locally this Tuesday, you can donate to the Give A Christmas program by following this link: https://foundation.virtua.org/giveachristmas. A family in need may receive up to four gift cards. If a family has less than four children, the parents can also get one gift card between them.
In 2019, the GAC program distributed 1,166 Target gift cards worth a total of $58,300 to 329 county families.
GAC has been helping families in need during the holidays since 1968. It helps hundreds of families each year. Eligible recipients include, but are not limited to, parents with sick children, single parent households, people who are struggling with addiction and people who are unemployed.
Several other county organizations are also raising money this Tuesday, including Rowan College at Burlington County, the Saint Paul School of Burlington Township and Hand N Heart, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless population.
RCBC is aiming to raise $5,000 for students struggling with food insecurity and financial hardship, according to Greg Volpe, the school’s director of communications. Visit https://www.rcbc.edu/giving-tuesday to donate.
The Saint Paul School of Burlington Township is trying to raise between $5,000 and $10,000 for pandemic-era needs like masks, shields for desks and personal computers for students to work toward a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio, said Jennifer Stankiewicz, the school’s administrative assistant. To contribute to the cause, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/spsb2021.
Hand N Heart is looking to gather between $500 and $1,000 to help operate its storage unit, which holds items for various events, including birthday parties, holiday meals and school supply drives. The organization is collecting donations on its website and Facebook page.
“It’s a way to have our community support us,” said Stankiewicz of Giving Tuesday. “It’s wonderful for us to be able to have that connection.”
A local news and sports reporter around Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 2015, Jarrad Daniel Saffren joined The Burlington County Times’ award-winning local news team in October 2019, adding business, education and town government features to the coverage. Contact him at jsaffren@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JarradSaff. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to The Burlington County Times.