For Christmas, Santa Claus can’t please everyone and sometimes leaves gift cards to people who will never use them. In an effort to put such gifts to great use, Make-A-Wish Foundation is offering to take them to fund its organization.
Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties uses the unused gift cards as “first gifts,” meaning a team of granters comes in and gives presents to the children of a household in which a “wish kid” lives.
Any donation will greatly benefit many children, whether the gift card is for fast food, electronic stores, bookstores, or whatever. Grocery store gift cards can be put to great use; “wish granters” use them to buy cake and party supplies for the wish presentation party. A donated gift card could even be used to grant a child’s wish.
Anyone interested in helping can mail an unused gift card to Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Tri-Counties, 4222 Market St., suite D, Ventura, CA, 93003. Insert a name and address so a tax-deductible receipt can be mailed.
Intern Henry Houston compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send comments or ideas to the Sun via e-mail at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 14-21, 2010.