Holiday Angel Program Provides Christmas Gifts for Foster Kids

BY ARIN COTEL-ALTMAN ALBANY/CAPITAL REGION

Just a few weeks ago, Jaiden, a foster group home resident, didn’t know what he’d be opening under the tree this Christmas. He lives in a group foster home through Berkshire Farm Center.

“The holidays are lonely because it’s not your birth family,” says Sahoutah Carey-Lanier, group home supervisor, Berkshire Farm Center.

What You Need To Know:

• Upstate Chevrolet Dealers have signed to be the Best Christmas Ever sponsor in support of Berkshire Farm Center’s Holiday Angel Program with $20,000
• The program ensure’s foster kids have special gifts for the holidays
• Berkshire farm center services every county in New York State outside of NYC

But Upstate Chevrolet Dealers is doing their part to change that. They’ve have signed on to be the Best Christmas Ever sponsor in support of Berkshire Farm Center’s Holiday Angel Program with $20,000. The program ensures foster kids like Jaiden have special gifts for the holidays.

“There are children with less fortunate backgrounds that dont get to experience a special time during the holidays so we do our best to make sure every child has a magical holiday season,” says David Groesbeck, from Upstate Chevrolet Dealers.

Berskshire Farm Center services every county in New York state outside of New York City, and with this money, the rest of the kids whose wishlists were left unsponsored, are taken care of.

“We all believe that giving back in even the smallest ways during the holiday season can make a difference in a child’s life,” Groesbeck said.

The gifts that Groesbeck and his co-workers are wrapping are going directly to Jaiden and the other kids in his group home and as Jaiden puts them under the tree, he knows that these gifts actually represent so much more.

“It just makes me happy, just to get something, to somebody cares about me,” says Jaiden.