HOLIDAYS AT THE DAM

Have you ever thought about how much work it is to celebrate a holiday? The bigger the holiday, the more that is required. Decorating, shopping, cooking, planning. Why do we do so much work? Some think the work is fun, but whether it is fun or not, we want to make the season special for our family, friends and ourselves.

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Tess has learned not to expect much out of holidays. It is just another day to spend alone in her room. For Tess, this will be her first year participating in celebrations at The Dam during December. Decorating, treats, activities and a gift chosen specifically for her will be a new experience. We get shivers thinking that something we do for our families can be so incredibly special for Tess.

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There will be a lot of extra work this year to celebrate the holidays at The Dam. With limited capacity indoors and needing to eat outdoors, creative planning is required to make celebrations special and memorable. Yet we do the extra work because the youth are worth it.

For youth who have had to endure a pandemic during their formative years, who have lost out on so many milestone experiences, we say this is a year to put in the extra work to make it special.

For families where poverty is a constant visitor, it is worth doing the extra work for the adopt-a-youth Christmas program so that Jacob can have the luxury of a new shirt.

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For Tess, family celebrations usually include fighting or time alone in her room. It is worth putting in the extra work to give her a holiday where there is laughter.

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The new youth this fall ask why we do what we do. “Because we care about youth!” we say. Then they ask, “But, how can you afford all this?” and we are able to say, “Because our donors care about youth, too!”