{"id":22,"date":"2015-10-15T04:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T04:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcccb.org\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2015-10-16T23:28:45","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T23:28:45","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

History of the Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau:<\/p>\n

Some 35 years ago a kind hearted case worker in the Department of Children and Youth was forced to place several children in temporary foster care during the holiday season.\u00a0 Realizing the impact this would have on the foster family and their plans for Christmas, the case worker enlisted the aid of co-workers and gathered gently used clothes and toys to ease the burden and ensure the recently placed children would have gifts to open on Christmas morning.\u00a0 Thus was born the Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau, fueled by the motto, \u201cEvery kid deserves a present on Christmas morning\u201d.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the success of that first act of kindness, the department expanded the program to include other families in need.\u00a0 The program grew to include input and support from other departments under the Wayne County Human Services umbrella.\u00a0 Gently used clothes and toys were collected from throughout the community.\u00a0 New toys and monetary donations flooded in from local businesses, community groups, families, and individuals.\u00a0 The influx of cash donations allowed the program to shop for new items to be included with the distributed items.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As the program grew, so did the need for manpower to consolidate, sort, and distribute the donated items.\u00a0 The county volunteer program enlisted the aid of its volunteers to assist in this process.\u00a0 The program continued to grow and the Honesdale Area Jaycees were asked to help with distribution and logistics.<\/p>\n

At its peak, the program provided a Merry Christmas for 800 children from 285 local families.\u00a0 The program relies on over 100 volunteers and shoppers, most of whom return year after year.\u00a0 Fundraisers from throughout the community range from dance recitals to high school plays to bartending for charity events that all have donated proceeds.\u00a0 There has even been a Christmas Album recorded by a local business man, and of course, the \u201cShower for Charity\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0The \u201cShower for Charity\u201d is a long standing tradition in Honesdale in which our local radio personality, Mike Stanton, dressed only in his Christmas boxers \u00a0showers in the freezing December temperatures in order to raise money for several charities including the Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau.\u00a0 These and many other fundraisers, combined with the generosity of the local population are the only reasons the program continues to thrive.<\/p>\n

The Bureau is also aided by a unique \u201cAdopt a Family Program\u201d.\u00a0 This program allows local businesses, groups, families, and individuals to be assigned children that they can shop for using their own resources.\u00a0 This program is extremely popular and a wonderful way to maintain the spirit of the season.<\/p>\n

The Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau is a locally funded, independent 501c3 charity that is governed by a Board of Directors with strong ties to the Wayne County Department of Human Services.\u00a0 This unique cooperation enables the program to serve the maximum amount of local residents in the most effective manner.\u00a0 The combination of these entities along with the extraordinary support of the local community help the Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau meet its mission of \u201cevery child receives a gift on Christmas morning\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"christmas-tree\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History of the Wayne County Children\u2019s Christmas Bureau: Some 35 years ago a kind hearted case worker in the Department of Children and Youth was forced to place several children […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"Layout":"1c","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wcccb.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}