TAMPA, Fla. — Local foster moms are shopping for presents for nearly 300 foster children this Christmas.
"Christmas for Fosters" allows people to sponsor a child and alleviate the financial burden Christmas may create for foster families.
"Families are able to sign up and become a sponsor where they'll receive the profile of a child from their interests, their hobbies, their clothing size to things they have on their wish list," said Sarah Weaver, the founder of "Christmas for Fosters."
People may also make a monetary donation, and a group of foster moms will shop for foster children.
"Our drop-off deadline is coming up quickly, so the easiest thing right now for our team is for people to make monetary donations because that's going to go the furthest and allow us to go in and take care of things," said Weaver.
Weaver and her husband adopted three children. They are also foster parents.
"We first started fostering in 2016. We went through Christmas and we thought what a blessing it would be to have our community wrap around other foster families. For some people, the added expense of Christmas or birthdays can be a lot, " said Weaver.
"Christmas for Fosters" said about 275 children are projected to be sponsored in the program in 2020.
The program started in 2017, where 96 children were sponsored.
Every child receives an outfit, jacket, shoes, pajamas, socks, undergarments, a handwritten Christmas card and three to five items off their wish list.
"Our highest need right now are for gaming systems, so with the kids that come in and apply to be sponsored for Christmas, we want them to dream as big as their friends do at school," said Weaver.
Christina Eben is a volunteer coordinator with "Christmas for Fosters." She has two biological children and is also a foster parent.
"My husband and I knew that although we were done having biological children, we were not done loving on kids. My mother was in foster care...and also my husband's sister is adopted," said Eben.
She said it is important to give back to these children who are in foster care.
"Having "Christmas for Fosters" and the community steps up and be able to fill the gap for these kids and make this Christmas wish come true. It's definitely amazing and something that's needed," said Eben.
For more information visit: Christmasforfosters.com.
