Please give to the kids at the Cleveland Christian Home this Christmas!

Chris OConnor · Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:40 am

I used to live at the Cleveland Christian Home when I was 10 and 11 years old. It's an orphanage or home for abandoned or severely abused and neglected children. This was one of the most painful and difficult times of my life and until recent years I didn't talk much about it to anyone.

For a long time I have been sending Christmas gifts to the kids of the CCH. I sent what I could and some years it was plenty and other years it wasn't a whole lot. This year I'm not doing that great financially and my level of contribution will be limited, but I do plan on doing all that I can to help make those kids get through the holiday season a little more easily. Christmas for abandoned kids is not the same as it is for the rest of society.

I remember how wonderful it felt to receive a pile of presents on Christmas morning from people I didn't even know. Total strangers reached out and touched my life and helped give me hope at a time when I was teetering on just giving up completely. I remember the football someone gave me. Heck, I didn't even like football but I kept that football most of my life because it had such meaning. I received a few really cool puzzles that I put together and took apart over and over again.

If you're in a position to donate $5 or $50 or maybe more please click on the button below and give. Once we get to the first week in December I will order presents from Amazon.com off of the below "Christmas Wishes" list and have them shipped directly to the Cleveland Christian Home. All details will be posted here including the names of those who donated (unless they request to be anonymous) and the gifts we sent. We'll be doing this as a group.

And if you are the type of person that is worried about being scammed just donate directly to the Cleveland Christian Home. I just think it would be easier if we did this as a group. Again, I lived at the CCH and know where donated presents go. They will all end up being wrapped and given to some very needy children. I don't work for the CCH and stand to gain nothing financially for this request for donations.

Please donate a few dollars so that we can give the kids at the Cleveland Christian Home a better Christmas.

Christmas Wishes 2010
This is what the children of the Cleveland Christian Home have asked Santa for this year!

ELECTRONICS

Portable Radio w/CD Player
MP3 or CD Players w/Headphones
DVD Players & DVDs - rated G, PG or PG-13
Hand Held Electronic Games - sports, trivia, etc.
Batteries (D/C/AA/AAA/9V)

HOUSEWARES & SUPPLIES

Duffel Bags, Backpacks for older teens
Cribs and Car Seats (2006 or newer)
Comforters, Blankets & Sheets (for Twin-size beds)
Pots & Pans/Dish Sets/Plastic Cups/Silverware

Small Appliances:

Coffee Makers, Space Heaters, Toasters, Small Microwaves,
Alarm Clock Radios, Electric Fans, Irons, Hair Dryers,
Cordless Phones, Answering Machines, etc.

GAMES & TOYS

Footballs, Basketballs, Pumps
Bakugan, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon Toys and Cards
Remote Control Cars and Hot Wheels Brand Cars
Family Board Games for ages 8 and up:
Chess, Checkers, Dominoes, Yahtzee, Risk, Clue,
Monopoly, Mancala, Battleship, Life, Scrabble, etc.
Snap-Together Models: K-Nex, Legos,
Bionicals - boys 10-16
Leap Frog Learning Games and Memory Games
Barbie, Dora & Bratz Dolls and Accessories
Art Supplies & Paper, Stickers for boys and girls
Decks of Cards and Card Games - Uno, etc.
Action Figures: Spider-Man, Wrestling, Power Rangers, etc.

HOLIDAY ITEMS

Extra-Large Paper Gift Bags
Large Holiday Plastic Bags (39-gal. size)
Wrapping Paper & Scotch Tape

CLOTHING

Winter Coats - Men’s & Women’s sizes
Clothing for Teens, incl. School Uniform items
Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Boots (Timberland, etc.)
Socks, Underwear, Boxer Shorts (no briefs, please)
Hoodies, Children’s Winter Boots & Coats

BOOKS & WRITING

Journals, especially for teenage boys
Series for young readers by R.L. Stine,
J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket, C.S.Lewis, etc.

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Target, Walmart, K-Mart, Footlocker,
McDonald’s (for field trips), Giant Eagle

* Please, no stuffed animals or baby dolls this year!

Important reminders from Santa:

1. Gifts should be new.
2. Please do not wrap!
All wrapped gifts will be opened. We welcome gifts in open gift bags.
3. Please leave price tags on items! This will help us accurately report your donation for tax purposes.
4. Please bring or ship gifts to 11401 Lorain Ave, Cleveland, OH 44111 by Friday, Dec 10th.
5. Please give advance notice of large donations by calling: 216-476-0333.

Chris OConnor · Sat Oct 30, 2010 5:17 pm

Stahrwe, I'll see if I can figure out what happened to you. Sorry about that. Please give me a few minutes. I just walked in the door. But I will get it fixed. And thank you for considering donating. I can assure you the gifts will go to real children that need the love.

Suzanne · Sat Oct 30, 2010 6:14 pm

There is something very satisfying about the idea of choosing items off the wish list and sending them off. Can I do this? Should I choose a couple of items off the wish list, or would a money donation be better?

Chris OConnor · Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:40 pm

You can do whatever feels right. If you want to pick an item off the list and mail it please feel free. If you want to click on the donate button and donate money your money will be used by me to buy gifts through Amazon.com. All donated money will go into our PayPal account and then around the first week of December I will order gifts from Amazon.com. I usually call the CCH to see if there are specific gift suggestions too.

Chris OConnor · Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:29 pm

Thank you for the amazingly generous $200 donation, Stahrwe! You're going to make a lot of kids at the Cleveland Christian Home very happy this Christmas. :thankyou:

My intention is to post an image of the invoice after I order the presents for the kids. You'll be able to see what toys and gifts were sent.

Chris OConnor · Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:10 am

Dexter, I received your $10 donation today and have added it to the fund. We now have $310 that we can spend on Christmas presents for the kids at the Cleveland Christian Home.

When I lived there we had 40 kids permanently living at the CCH. There were 3 wings of boys (Juniors, Intermediates and Seniors) and 1 wing of girls. Each wing had 10 kids in it. I lived there long enough to move up through all 3 divisions.

According to my phone calls with the CCH over the past several years they still have about the same number of kids living there. Our donated presents will make a significant impact on their Christmas since there are so few of kids permanently living there. Where else can your donations have such a readily apparent effect? Drop a few coins into the Salvation Army bucket outside the grocery store (which I encourage!) and you don't really know where the money goes. Donate some money for Christmas presents for these abandoned and needy children and you will see the invoice for the gifts including links to where you can see color photos of each present. You can also call the Cleveland Christian Home to verify this is all legit. I do it every year...but now I'm trying to get you guys involved so we do this as a community on a larger scale.

Thank you so much Stahrwe and Dexter for donating to our fund for Christmas presents for kids at the Cleveland Christian Home!

Chris OConnor · Sat Nov 06, 2010 6:21 pm

Interbane, I just got the $20 donation. Thank you for your generosity! It is going to make a big difference in their lives.

Chris OConnor · Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:05 am

Thank you Geo! I received your $50 donation today and it will be added to the current $330 bringing our total to $380! I'm actually getting excited about ordering the presents already and we have several more weeks left.

Chris OConnor · Mon Nov 15, 2010 11:51 am

When I started this I didn't have a specific goal. To be honest I wasn't expecting anyone to participate in this Christmas charity. I've been pleasantly surprised with the generosity of our members. You guys are making more of a difference than you will ever know.

How about we set the goal of $500 total? We're only $120 shy of that right now. I'm actually hoping some people make small donations like $5 and $10 just to get involved. We'll be sending plenty of small gifts that cost less than $25 too. So a $10 donation really does make a difference.

Chris OConnor · Mon Nov 15, 2010 1:24 pm

Thank you so much President Camacho, DWill and Geo! I just received your donations and have added them to the pot. We're up to $465!!!

President Camacho - $10.00
DWill - $25.00 + $50 to BookTalk.org
Geo - $50.00
Interbane - $20.00
Dexter - $10.00
Chris O'Connor - $100.00
Stahrwe - $200.00

Total amount of Christmas presents we will be giving to the kids at the Cleveland Christian Home = $415!