Holiday gift-giving can involve both terrible frustration and extreme gratification — the frustration of figuring out what to get each person, and the gratification of knowing that you found just the right present.
Arlington's Secret Santa program allows donors to skip the frustration — recipients provide wish lists — in order to give the perfect gifts to those in the area who have the least.
Wish lists typically include clothes, winter coats, food, toys, computers, appliances and gift cards, but vary depending on the recipient family. Recipient families range widely in size and type, from individual children in foster care or seniors living alone to single-parent households to large families with several children.
To make the program work, social workers and others in the Arlington Department of Human Services (DHS) identify the area families most in need and Fred Jones, a retired Arlingtonian active in several charitable organizations, solicits donors and matches them with the recipients.
This is Jones' first year in charge of donations, while DHS has been involved with the Secret Santa program for several years.
There is a great deal of flexibility in the type and size of donations accepted, as sponsors can choose to be matched with a single recipient or a larger family. Groups, such as churches, businesses and condominium complexes, often choose to sponsor one or more families together, with some church groups sponsoring 10 or more families. Also, according to the Arlington County Web site, all donations are tax-deductible.
UNLIKE MANY CHARITIES, the Secret Santa program has no overhead. Jones is volunteering his time and he said that the county allows employees in DHS and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources (DPRCR) to devote work time to the project. Donations go directly to recipients.
Last year the Secret Santa program reached more than 500 needy families while involving slightly fewer donors in what Jones called “another expression of the generosity of the Arlington community.”
Jones expects roughly similar numbers this year, having already received “hundreds” of e-mails from potential donors. He said that both donors and recipients are recruited with equilibrium in mind, as organizers do not want to have too many on either side and wind up with disappointments.
Jones said that they are working on a database to help match sponsors and recipients more efficiently and make the program even better. He also hopes to have a larger organization in place to coordinate donations next year, as he said it is a difficult job for one person.