In November and early December of 2013, GIVE volunteered in the Adopt a Family program at Genesis Shelter. Genesis Shelter is a place where homeless parents with children, especially newborns, are given a place to stay until the family can get back on their feet and support their family once again. Genesis provides a nurturing environment for the newborns and children while the parents seek new jobs and, later, a place to live. Unfortunately and despite the effort put in by the parents, the parents are typically unable to provide Christmas gifts for their children. Genesis shelter thus organizes the Adopt a Family program, where individuals or groups can support families that are currently living in or have just recently moved on from the shelter. The children as well as the parents receive Christmas gifts from this program. This program really gives the families that “spark” to keep going since they know others are supporting and rooting for them to succeed. In essence, we are the families’ Santa Claus!

Initially, GIVE planned to support three families, including two 2-member families and one 3-member family. However, the dedicated and passionate GDBBS graduate students, postdocs and lab staff, faculty, and staff allowed us to support two additional 5-member families and one 4-member family. In total, GIVE supported six total families consisting of 21 total individuals, of which 14 were children less than 9-years old. The number of individuals supported was thus triple the amount we initially planned. Furthermore, GDBBS graduate students, faculty, staff, and their families also assisted in gift wrapping, shopping for additional gifts for children from gift card donations, and gift delivery to Genesis Shelter. Thank you to all who supported individuals or families as well as to those who helped assist with gift wrapping, gift shopping, and gift delivery; we could not have met and exceeded our expectations without you! Hopefully, we can support even more families next year!