St. Francis Christmas program in Sonoma grows; seeks community support

The St. Francis Solano School and Parish annual Adopt-A-Family program has committed to serving more than 100 neighbors from the Sonoma Valley and Paradise communities, the Mentoring Alliance and St. Francis Solano Parish.

The program was founded in 2016 in an effort to ensure a gift under every tree and a warm meal on every table at Christmas for those in the St. Francis Solano community. Since the program’s beginning two years ago, the mission has grown and the number of families has tripled to include all those who may need a little extra help during the holiday season, regardless of faith and location.

Last year, St. Francis was able to provide, wrap and deliver more than 1,000 gifts to families in the community.

“We continue to see an increase of requests for help by our deadline as families continue to recover from last year’s fire, Camp Fire victims begin to pick up the pieces, and life continues to be life – just really hard and unfair sometimes,” said Catarina Landry, St. Francis Solano School Parents Club president. “To be honest, the flood of need is really overwhelming. The obstacles in front of these families are huge. We realize a Christmas gift may not be an ultimate solution, but it may provide a little light of hope for the future and help them remember that they are loved.”

There are several ways that the community can help:

Purchase a gift for the adopted families from Amazon’s Wish List. The name of the wish list is “2018 St. Francis Solano.” The list has been created to include specific items requested by the families. All gifts purchased from the Amazon Wish List will be shipped directly to St. Francis Solano School. The direct link to the Amazon Wish List is at http://bit/ly/2RHVPIs-adoptafamily. The deadline to purchase gifts is Dec. 17 (St. Francis requests gifters select two-day shipping).

Purchase a gift from the St. Francis list at Sonoma Toy Shop and drop the gift in the school office by Dec. 20.

Adopt an entire family. To do so, contact Noelle Andres at 363-7286 or Noelle@andresfam.com. Make checks out to St. Francis Solano School, write Adopt-A-Family on the memo line. The money raised will be used to purchase Christmas meals and gifts from the Wish List. Mail checks to St. Francis Solano School, 342 W Napa St., Sonoma, CA 95476.