I have an update, I've got a little bit of good news. I found a job working for Enterprise Rent A Car. Its a home based position as a reservationist from 9am to 6pm mon thru fri so its perfect for me and the pay is very good and it has benefits and a retirement plan. The only thing is I don't have a home computer. However God works in mysterious ways! A friend of mine was kind enough to give me her old computer tower, keyboard and speakers.and I have wifi service in my cell phone plan so that's taken care of but I need a monitor for the computer. It dosent have to be new or fancy, I don't need anything special, just a basic monitor. I looked on shmittys page of links because sandy24 was kind enough to direct me there and he had a link for free computers for needy families but unfortunately right now they are only providing computers to families on the west coast. I live in the mid west, more specifically elmwood park illinois its a suburb right next to chicago bordered by oak park, river forest, melrose park , river grove, and chicago. If anybody lives near my area and has an old monitor they don't need and don't want it to go into a landfill please let me know, I don't have a car but if its not too, heavy I can come on the bus and pick it up. if its too heavy I can try to get a friend to give me a ride to pick it up. Any help would be appreciated. I am supposed to start the 4 week virtual training class on friday morning, so I am trying to.get s monitor as soon as I possibly can. Thank you everyone God Bless you happy holidays!
I'm at a loss. I've got 2 kids, one is special needs. My husband and I were both laid off in the fall. Unemployment has made a horrible clerical error with his claim, so he has not seen a check in 3 months. They keep telling him that they will sort it out, but the supervisors are busy, so it'll be 4 more weeks.
Because he qualified for unemployment, we are denied any and all assistance. My money last month went to heat, so we are 2 months late on rent. I dont eat so i can feed the kids. There will be no presents for my babies this year. And that is tearing my heart out. They're so good, and don't deserve this.
I can't live with this any more. I don't want to see the day when we are homeless, or the food runs out.
I am at the end of my strength. There is no help for us, and we are victims of the unemployment offices error, which they are not rushing to fix. I have broken down begging, and they just told me to go apply for services, which were already denied months back.
I need help, and strength. I've worked my entire life, why can't there be help for my babies?
Hi my name is Jen i have few post on here but i wanted to update it. This Christmas is becoming worse now everyday as now with me not working which is really hard on me and my boys to top it off our rent of 650 from nov is not paid so now we owe nov and this month. We might be kicked out on,the street for Christmas. So no home no presents and the state cant help rent because we dont have tanf or foodstamps and we dont have that because they are pending it because they say all the paperwork isnt in which i made sure i gave it to them. I have tried curches too nothing no help anywhere. No rent money no presents no help. I have new job that starts mid jan working at a shelter. But until then we are in desprate help if anyone out there can help in any way please please contact me asap. I will be so very greatful to any angel. Bless you.
Hi My name is Sharon and I am contacting you in hopes that you knew of anyone who is looking to adopt a family in need for Christmas this year. or if you knew of any organizations that is. I have contacted 211 and they have nothing and 2 of my children is to old to receive gifts from Toys for Tots and I would really like for them to have a nice Christmas if possible. I am a single mother of 4 children 15, 14, 12 and 2 and I cant afford to do anything for them. I am barely keeping my bills current. it would be a blessing if their was anything you could do to help me.Anything you can I would be very grateful. Thank you for taking the time to read and God Bless you!
Sharon
suggssharon2004@yahoo.com
I am here in hopes that someone can help me with Christmas for my little boy. He is 7yrs old, and has severe asthma and allergies that keeps him inside alot. I volunteer for the school during the week to keep up with his progress and help some of the other children who need one on one help. I do not have any income, and my husband is on SS, so he does all he can to keep the bills paid, and food on the table. My son loves Legos, and Xbox360 games. He also loves Nerf guns. He would really be happy with anything, because he is such an appreciative little guy. Used items or new it doesnt really matter. I just need some help. Christmas is right around the corner, and he is looking forward to Santa. I dont want to let him down. He is my joy and I love him so much. Thanks to everyone who reads this, even if it is just for prayers.
Please go to http://www.lightalife.net and submit your story for assistance this holiday season. We are giving away thanksgiving meals as well as Christmas presents, Christmas trees and meals. We try to aid as many families as we can throughout the year. Feel free to post stories about others that you know as well. Also there is a forum where users can adopt other families. www.lightalife.net
Hi, I’ve never done this before and could REALLY use some help this year for the holidays. I recently lost most of my income coming into my household and I am barely covering my rent with my paychecks and have shut offs on most everything so I’m asking for any help that can be offered to my family. I am honestly very embarrassed to ask as I KNOW there are people out there in far greater need, but for my son who is 13yrs I have to try; I can’t imagine the look on his face if he got nothing for christmas; I also have a 22yr old male college student living with us so any help would be greatly appreciated or any info on programs that may help with Thanksgiving or Christmas; my husband is disabled and I have severe health problems and I am barely hanging on, after 23yrs together my husband can no longer work and it’s all left up to me and I’m scared as it gets closer and closer to both holidays. thank you for your time and I hope to hear back from your charity. Either way, thank you for your time.
Please help us with christmas gifts for are kids. There are 7 kids from ages 2-11. there is six boys and one girl. Please give us a call at 720-404-9820
720-298-1991 or 720-297-4684 Thank you and god bless
I am on disability due to anxiety and depression. I am a mom to 3 great boys. Christian is 13, Kevin is 7 and Kyle is 5. I was looking for Holiday help.
I have two boys- Dylan is 12 -AND- Brandon is 6. I just lost my job and my husband has been un-employed for several months as well. We are on Food Stamps. What little bit of money I get from SSI on my youngest son goes towards electric & water bill each month. I am worried about Christmas for my two boys. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have tried checking with agencies in the area and I am either to late for sign-up or the assistiance is already gone. I would not be asking for help if I did not need it. Any help for Christmas for my two boys is greatly, greatly appreciated and Thank You and God Bless!!!!
We all know the holidays are a particularly difficult time when it comes to holiday meals. While trying to locate soup kitchens that supply free holiday meals I came across a few sites that might be able to help those who celebrate the holiday. It is a simple google search - so hopefully it will narrow down the search for some.
I also found that 211.org can help locate holiday meals and assistance
And community calendars are a big help in sharing information on holiday meals. I am listing the links to the WNY community calendars below. I ask that if anyone has links to their local community calendars that they share them as well. In addition to free holiday meals, there are always numerous free events for families and children during the holidays, so please, include your local community calendars with links and the area they cover to help our friends. Thank you!
HI I HAVE TWO WONDERFUL KIDS AND TWO STEP CHILDREN.MY HUSBAND IS EMPLOYED BUT BARELY MAKES ENOUGH TO PAY OUR BILLS LET ALONE GIVE OUR CHILDREN A CHRISTMAS...WE ARE IN NEED OF SOME FORM OF CHRISTMAS HELP SO OUR CHILDREN CAN SMILE CHRISTMAS MORNING SEEING GIFTS FOR THEM UNDER OUR TREE!! I'VE BEEN TO THE LOCAL DSS AND THEY SAID THEY COULD NOT HELP..SO IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE I CAN LOOK INTO HERE IN NY STATE PLEASE LET ME KNOW..I KNOW ALL OF US ARE STRUGGLING AND IF WE CAN PULL TOGETHER I BELEIVE FAITH WILL HELP US ALL..THANKS!!
Once again looking for Christmas help. With the addition of a new baby in the house and the lack of medical insurance for this child and my daughter's inability to work due to injuries sustained during her first birth and my inability to work due to mental health care issue things are not looking to bright. My Nephews suicide on Mother's day and my brother's death in September have put a giant shadow over our holidays. So this year we could really use some help. If anyone knows of a church in or around the area that help low income families at Christmas please let me know we could really use it.
my husband lost his job 5 months ago and we have been struggling we are using food banks to help feed the family we have 4 children ages 7 to 17 who are all honor roll students but this year we cannot provide anything for the holidays I am a diabetcis who also suffers from high blood pressure and arthritis we currently have a shut off on our gas bill we are honest good proud people having a rough time if anyone can help in any way big or small we would appreciate it so much. you can email me at spading4ever40@yahoo.com.Thank you
By Nicole Stricker, INL Communications & Governmental Affairs
As 2009 winds to a close, Idaho National Laboratory is taking stock of its efforts to be a good neighbor to the community and the state. While INL's employees and corporate leaders are always eager to donate their time and services, such efforts are especially rewarding during tough economic times.
staff collect gifts
INL and Idaho Cleanup Project employees bought gifts for 250 children in the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program this year.
During the holiday season, INL contractor Battelle Energy Alliance supports the annual sitewide Christmas for Families program. This year, employees "adopted" 85 families to provide gifts for their 280 children, and BEA donated $4,250 toward food boxes for each family. Employees also bought gifts for 250 children in the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program.
And each year, the Team INL employee volunteer program provides support for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Bell Ringing program, which raises money to help provide food and shelter to the less fortunate in our community. This year, INL volunteers filled 52 two-hour shifts, which saved the Salvation Army $1,040 that it would have had to pay to staff the equivalent 13 eight-hour shifts.
The United Way recently announced that INL employees contributed more than $321,000 to this year's fund drive. This year's donations exceeded the lab's goal by more than 7 percent, and over the past five years, employee contributions have averaged 4.5 percent above goal. BEA also contributed $55,000 in corporate funds this year, making the total INL contribution $376,000. Since BEA took over operation of INL in 2005, employee contributions to the United Way have exceeded $1.43 million and BEA has contributed an additional $255,000 in corporate donations.
BEA also supports the community through its Team INL employee volunteer program, which provides a little bit of funding to help employees make a difference in their communities. The funding is often used to purchase building materials, paint, sand, essential items and clothing. Since 2005, BEA employees and volunteer groups have completed more than 105 Team INL projects, including providing Christmas gifts each year for the teenagers living at The Haven transitional housing shelter.
family receive gifts
An eastern Idaho family receiving gifts provided by employees participating in the sitewide Christmas for Families program.
This year's projects included: a school supply donation drive yielding $4,200 in donations and supplies; restoration and beautification of the Idaho Falls War Veterans Memorial; and a youth collaborative project at the Blackfoot Community Center. Another project collected donations, and packed and mailed 380 holiday care packages to U.S. troops serving overseas. The project also donated nearly $2,000 to provide free phone cards to deployed troops.
And INL managers participating in the lab's License to Lead program organized canned food drives that sent 6,000 cans of food, 1,500 pounds of fresh potatoes, 4,000 packages of processed potatoes and more than $6,500 to food banks in six eastern Idaho counties.
This year, INL contributed a total of $473,000 to local and regional K-12 programs that promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and encourage students to pursue careers in these areas. That includes more than $100,000 distributed as 46 grants for Idaho STEM teachers.
Over the past four years, INL’s education program office has contributed nearly $1.7 million to enhance STEM education. That includes 166 grants totaling more than $330,000. In addition, INL gave $10,000 to the Idaho Falls Mayor’s Scholarship Fund for local junior high and high school students, $50,000 for the Idaho Space Grants Consortium and $20,000 to support Young Women in Engineering.
staff present check
INL campaign co-chairs Lynn Melander (right) and Jo Anna Stenzel delivered an oversized check to Idaho Falls region United Way Campaign chair Linda Milam.
BEA also provides corporate funding for teacher professional development, high school and teacher summer internships, and the INL Scholastic Tournament. Each year, INL stages the Hispanic Youth Symposium (HYS), which encourages Latino teens to pursue education and brings regional universities together to offer scholarships to participants. In 2009 alone, these universities awarded $4 million in scholarships to more than 150 Idaho students.
In addition, INL gives $10,000 each year to the Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC) Foundation for EITC student scholarships. And this year, INL employees participated in EITC's Great Race for Education, as both players and support volunteers. The event raised $32,000 for the foundation's scholarship fund.
INL also donates technical expertise to community organizations. Since 2005, INL has provided 5,000 hours worth of technical assistance to the community. Each year, the INL Technical Assistance Program provides INL technical expertise to state and local government, and regional small businesses. The requesting organization can receive, at no cost to them, up to 40 hours of laboratory employee time to address technical needs that cannot readily be met by commercially available resources in the region.
Since the program's inception, INL has completed 113 projects. This year's 21 projects included work with the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp., Grand Teton Brewing Company, University of Idaho glass blower, Teton County Landfill, Idaho Falls School District 91, Arco courtroom, Good Earth Bio-Solutions and the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
science students
This year, INL awarded 46 minigrants totaling $120,000 to improve science, technology, engineering and math education in Idaho K-12 classrooms.
Since the BEA contract began in February 2005, it has provided more than $4 million in corporate funding to numerous educational, philanthropic and technology-based economic development programs. BEA also provides funding to the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Center, Development Workshop, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Idaho Meth Project and numerous nonprofit agencies that feed, clothe or provide shelter and services to the less fortunate in surrounding communities. INL funds philanthropic projects that focus on community, health and human services, and culture. In total, more than $800,000 in corporate funding has been given throughout the past four years to support roughly 100 agencies and programs.
"INL is proud to be able to make a positive difference in the lives of many," said Lori Priest, INL's community relations coordinator. "During this time of economic challenge, INL will continue to do its part to support education programs, find avenues to help the less fortunate and support the economic development of the state."
Even more families are facing an economic crisis of their own this year. With the holidays right around the corner, it’s hard to find the money to pay for necessities, much less holiday preparations. But there is hope and help.
I do realize that some of this information is specific to the WNY area. However, Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army are available nation-wide and can assist with the holiday season. Click on the links below to be directed to their home page and they can link you up with services in your area.
Toys for Tots will be holding its annual collection and donation for the holiday season. “Toys“R”Us, ( and “Babies R Us”) Inc. launched its seventh annual nationwide fundraising campaign to benefit the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation…” Shaq will be headlining as Santa on Toys R US, Facebook and Twitter keeping everyone apprised of efforts to assist families this Christmas season.
Also assisting children this holiday season will be the Salvation Army. Once again, they have teamed up with J C Penney and are continuing the Angel Tree tradition this year.
In addition, the Salvation Army provides much needed assistance this time of year for many families: the neighbor for neighbor heat fund ( heating assistance for the elderly and disabled), the gift of warmth ( winter clothing to be distributed to needy families) , Christmas assistance (toys, gifts and food during the holiday season) among many other programs. You can contact the Salvation Army at (716) 883-9800
The News Neediest Fund services needy families throughout WNY for the holidays. They request if you need help for the holidays, please call 2-1-1 or 1(888) 696-9211 before Dec 8 to get application information.
All recipients of the News Neediest Fund will be checked by the WNY Holiday Partnership to assure that families are not served by more than one agency.
Just a reminder, sign up as soon as possible to ensure you get on the list.
We are the proud parents of a set of twin boys, Havoc & Soren. I am a stay at home mom until the boys reach pre-K age because we did the math and my job skills would only earn me a job that would pay the prohibitive cost of childcare and nothing more. It is better developmentally if I just stay at home with them until they start school. This however, puts a large burden on Daddy to meet our living expenses (rent, bills, food, clothes, etc.). We are able to provide all this, barely, and overall the boyos are very happy little guys. Our problem this year is that their birthday is November 1st, and they will be turning 2 years old. We will be able to get them a few things for their birthday but it's at the expense of thier christmas which sucks to say the least.
The local assistance programs are either full or applications have been closed. We were able to get in touch w/ Toys 4 Tots who, thankfully, will be able to get them one toy each this year. If there is a charitable individual out there willing to help suppliment our boys' Christmas, any assistance would be welcomed. Here is a list of a few things I would like to get for them:
Couple of Sleepers each - sized 3T, Heavy Duty warm socks - they wear toddler 8/9 shoes, large set of Duplo blocks or a couple of Duplo block play sets, and any type of Vtech/LeapFrog learning toys.
Our family is big about Karma and "paying it forward". Everything the boyos have outgrown age wise or physically we give to others in need using sites like FreeCycle and Craigslist. We are hoping our efforts will be rewarded in the form of Christmas assistance this year. Thanks for taking the time to read our post and God Bless!
i am on here because i recently got fired and drawing unemployment and it is not enough to pay bills so if anyone can help me with my bills i would be grateful i have a 7 and 8 year old that need clothes and we need holiday help
Hello to all! My name is jessica and I am from Laurinburg North Carolina and I come to this site today for a christmas miracle for two little girls age 12 and 9. These two girls live with their father who is terminally ill with cancer and is not sure if he will live to see the new year. He has no means to get his daughters anything for christmas. This really touched me and I really hope that it touches you as well to help these girls with some christmas joy that they really deserve. The 9 year old her name is Teala and she wears a small in shirts, size 10 in pants and size 6 in underwear. Her shoe size is a 4 1/2. Aquanette is 12 and she wears a medium in shirts 1 in pants and size 8 underwear. Her shoe size is a 6. Anything would help at this point and I know time is not on our side. Please contact me at
910-217-1277 if you can be of assistance. Thanks and God bless all.
Hello to all! My name is jessica and I am from Laurinburg North Carolina and I come to this site today for a christmas miracle for two little girls age 12 and 9. These two girls live with their father who is terminally ill with cancer and is not sure if he will live to see the new year. He has no means to get his daughters anything for christmas. This really touched me and I really hope that it touches you as well to help these girls with some christmas joy that they really deserve. The 9 year old her name is Teala and she wears a small in shirts, size 10 in pants and size 6 in underwear. Her shoe size is a 4 1/2. Aquanette is 12 and she wears a medium in shirts 1 in pants and size 8 underwear. Her shoe size is a 6. Anything would help at this point and I know time is not on our side. Please contact me at