Seneca, South Carolina · since 2000

Twenty-six Christmases. Thirty thousand children.

For 26 years, neighbors across Oconee County have made sure no local child wakes up to nothing on Christmas morning. Every dollar came from this community. Every gift went to a child who lives here.

Give toward this Christmas How sponsorship works

Sponsorship opens again on October 17. Until then, every gift keeps the lights on.

30,000 Christmas mornings, and counting.

What this community has done

Small town. Long memory. Big numbers.

Christmas for Kids has never had a national office or a paid ad campaign. It has had the people of Oconee County, one December at a time.

26
years
Every Christmas since 2000
$4.5M
raised, all local
Given by neighbors and local businesses
10,000
families helped
Kept together, treated with dignity
30,000
children with gifts
Under a tree on Christmas morning
Our story

It started with a list of names and a newsroom in Seneca.

Christmas for Kids began in 2000 as a simple idea: local families going through a hard year shouldn't have to explain to their children why Christmas didn't come. Neighbors would step in, quietly, one child at a time.

The program still runs out of The Journal on North 1st Street. Schools and community groups tell us which families need help. With each family's permission, we write a short profile of every child — their age, their sizes, what they're hoping for — and never a photo. Sponsors choose a child, shop, wrap, and drop off. We handle the delivery.

Twenty-six years in, the idea hasn't changed. Only the numbers have.

Christmas for Kids helped make the holidays magical for our family during a difficult time. The way they handled everything with such care and respect meant everything to us.
— A local family
How a sponsorship works

Four steps between a name on a list and a gift under a tree.

This is the order it happens in every year. Sponsors join at step three, when the list opens on October 17.

  1. Families are identified

    Local schools, community organizations, and families themselves tell us which children would benefit this year.

  2. A profile is written

    With permission, each child gets a respectful profile: interests, wishes, and basics like clothing sizes. Never a photo.

  3. A neighbor chooses

    Sponsors browse the list, pick a child or a whole family, and shop for the gifts or gift cards.

  4. Christmas is delivered

    We coordinate drop-off and delivery so every sponsored child has presents on Christmas morning.

Made possible by
The Journaland the people of Oconee County