Eden Community Gives Back: the first Christmas family has been adopted! (Please help raise Eden Points for gift shopping 11/15 – 11/20!)

I have a VERY AWESOME announcement!!! We have a tally...and it’s a great one!

The Eden Points drive ended over the weekend and was incredibly successful once again – because you people are amazing! We had donations from about 20 people this time around...not too shabby!

It came to a total of 41,379 points donated. That’s $413.79 in points, which means Eden is giving 50% of that as cash... that works out to $206.89.
This brings the grand total raised for this family (including the Eden basic funding of $150) to $356.89! YAYYY!!!

And we're sending the check for $356.89 to Selective Sensualist! Those two kids are going to have a most excellent Christmas thanks to this community!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to:

• JR
• Jobthingy
• P'gell x 2
• Kindred
• Gary (our biggest donor this time)
• Carrie Ann
• dwtim
• Sammi x 2
• Jul!a
• Darling Jen
• Rockin with a Cock In
• Chilipepper
• Mistress Kay
• Taylor
• Victoria
• Fred
• Jesibel420
• Selective Sensualist

Keeps us posted, Selective Sensualist! We want to hear ALL about it! And major KUDOS TO YOU for adopting this family and sharing the love with us!!!

And the next family? Will be announced tomorrow! Tuesday morning, November 23rd. Exciting!

Wonderful news!

Yay! That's such fantastic news! Well done, everybody! I totally spazzed on getting my points cashed in on time (didn't have much anyway) but that just means I've have even more to give the next family. Can't wait for the announcement!

Wow I way too busy and distracted this week ! Thanks to everyone who donated. When is the next one?

SO cool, it will be a great Christmas indeed for those two kids. ~sends big hug to the Eden community!~

How awesome! And don't worry people who got busy we know you're sharing love in you own way and there will be more families!

I am so excited for Selective Sensualist to see this

I love these announcements. Thanks to Selective Sensualist for volunteering and for the community for coming together in support. Looking forward to donating to the next family, too!

Thanks for the update! I'm glad so much money was raised. I'm hoping I can give a little more next time.

Blah, I totally missed out on donating, but this is SO awesome.

This is amazing!

WOW . . . This is just incredible! Thank you, thank you, thank you -- all of you!

Special thanks to JR, Jobthingy, P'gell, Kindred, Gary (wow -- I still can't get over that $100 gift card donation), Carrie Ann, dwtim, Sammi, Jul!a, Darling Jen, Rockin with a Cock In, Chilipepper, Mistress Kay, Taylor, Victoria, Fred, and Jesibel420!

You are all A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. (((Hugs))) I will DEFINITELY be keeping you all posted in the days and weeks ahead.


I look forward to hearing about the next family we'll be helping! What a wonderful, WONDERFUL project this truly is.

Good work, everybody.

I wish I could help with distribution. I live too far away. But, we did a good thing.

Blessings to all and to the family. I hope they have a wonderful Christmas.

I have an update to share with all of you. I have both some (mildly) bad news and some wonderful news.

I recently spoke again with the mother of the two children and, during the course of that conversation, it became apparent that the family is not quite as needy as the information on her Case Sheet had indicated. I don't want to go into too many sordid details since this is rather disheartening and don't want any of us to dwell too much on the negative -- especially during this time of Thanksgiving. But I do feel like I owe you some examples to better explain this situation.

To give you a general idea, she was passing along requests for rather extravagant gifts (such as designer shoes and $150 Retro sneakers). I also learned, subsequent to that conversation, that the family lives in an affluent neighborhood in a large, very nice home. This was a surprise to me because most (if not all) of the other families who are approved for Plano Santas live in rather rough neighborhoods in tiny apartments packed full of people. It seems that she did not provide full disclosure on her application to this program. To put it simply, some discrepancies came to light when I talked with her the second time.

During our first conversation, my goal was to get a feel for whether or not we could adequately meet her family's needs. I explained that we were working with limited funds. When she suggested gift cards for the kids to buy some clothing at reasonably-priced retail venues, I felt confident that this was a family that we could indeed help. Knowing we working with "limited funds," it is difficult to imagine a mother who would allow her children to squander almost the entire amount on a couple of pairs of shoes if her children really were in dire need of basics.

I called the mother today and told her -- in as nice and gentle a manner as possible -- that I did not feel that we were a good match since we could not afford to meet her family's "needs."

Now that I have the bad news out of the way, I do have some good news I cannot wait to share with you! But to start afresh and leave all negativity behind, I will post this news in a separate comment. Give me a sec!

I returned to the Assistance Center today to select a new family for EF. The family that I selected is a family of five: 36-year-old parents (mom AND dad), a 7-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy, and a 1-year-old girl.

While the father is employed and there is thus an income for the family, his income is low and they have absolutely nothing left over after paying their rent and utilities. They don't have enough money to buy clothing and shoes for the children, let alone toys.

When I called to talk to the mother tonight, we ran into a communication barrier since she does not speak English. I spoke to one of the children, but she (or he?) was too young to adequately pass along the necessary information. So, I spoke to the father, who has limited command of English and asked him to have an adult friend who speaks English to call me back.

To make a long story short, I finally spoke to the family friend, who relayed the children's sizes for clothing. The mother was anxious to emphasize a priority for pants/jeans and shoes for the children over any toys. And if I could manage, the family would be very grateful for a mattress cover for their bed and a vacuum cleaner.

My priority will be to shop as frugally as possible and buy at least two (hopefully three) sets of clothing for each child. I have $15 Payless Shoe Source cards for each child, so I think shoes would be covered there. Then I will see about getting a toy for each child. And I will do what I can to try to find a vacuum and mattress pad, if at all possible.

I am very excited about shopping for clothing for these kiddos. I have always wanted kids, but apparently am unable to have them. I always loved shopping for my nieces and nephews when they were young. And 1, 6, and 7 are such fun ages to shop for.

I will keep you all updated on my shopping expedition for these children. Thank you once again for your generosity!

I hope each and every one of you have a joyous Thanksgiving. (((Hugs)))

It's unfortunate about the first family, but thank you for finding another one so quickly. Good luck.

I honestly did get suspicions about the first family when the mother wanted gift cards, first of all, and that one of them be to Forever 21. I mean, people in need want more bang for their buck, like Wal-Mart or something. So I'm gravely disappointed in that woman for nearly taking help that another family could honestly really use. But like you said, no more concentrating on the negative. I am SO pleased with the replacement family and love their practicality. Clothes, a mattress, and a vacuum cleaner might be a tall order but it's definitely a very, very smart list. I hope we can come close, at least.

That's unfortunate about the first family. However, it sounds like you found a truly worthy family this time. Thanks again for all your hard work.

That's a shame they are abusing the system like that and taking away from someone who is in need. That was one of my fears when I was selecting a family. We have an overabundance of these types in our society. But I'm glad you were able to find another family that is in need of real help.

Lots of places have children's clothes and even vacuums on sale for Black Friday. Maybe take a good look at the sales papers and see if you can find something within budget.

Thanks for what you are doing and continuing to move forward after the first family turned out that way.

Selective Sensualist, thank you so much for being on the ball and catching onto the truth with that first family! I am so glad that you have found a new, truly needy family for us to support in such a short amount of time. You rock!

Hey lady, any news? We're all rooting for you

Oh, and anyone who is fluent in written Spanish, could you message me if you are willing to translate a message I'd like to include with the Christmas card for the family? I'd also like to include some care suggestions for some of the items I'd purchased for the kids. (Being the diligent reviewer that I am, I read reviews on the clothing I purchased, LOL! And I want to pass these tips gleaned from the online clothing reviewers along to them.)