NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A nonprofit in Newport News has raised $50,000 with the help of 150 donors so that hundreds of children have presents to open on Christmas morning.
It's the most wonderful time of the year, and for some parents, it's the most expensive. It's why the nonprofit Thrive Peninsula is giving parents the gift of a guaranteed Christmas. It has turned its food pantry into the North Pole.
Dan Clark, with Thrive Peninsula, said the pantry has served 15,000 people through its programs. That includes food assistance, emergency rent and utility assistance.
High gas and food prices have only increased the need for help. The non-profit organization is seeing more than 100 requests for assistance per day whether they be food or financial assistance. That's double what the organization saw last year.
Clark said there's no winter break for families struggling to make ends meet which is why seasonal programs like Let Christmas THRIVE were created, all to help families fill the space under the tree with gifts.
"For every child a parent has, they get a $75 gift card to Walmart, so if the have two children, they get two of those, three children they get three of those," Clark said. "So, in some cases, it can be significant money to these people."
Just like Santa Claus, Clark said he's got a list and he checks it twice to make sure those who have signed up for assistance get it.
This year, Let Christmas THRIVE, which is sponsored by Thrive Peninsula, is serving more than 650 children on the Peninsula, including three of Antone Newton's children. He said help like food assistance and gift cards comes at a tough time of year. Despite working full-time, Newton said inflation has made him fall behind.
"It's not enough," he said. "It's never enough because you have the TV bills, the phone bills, you got everything."
But the help from Let Christmas THRIVE is sure to make his Christmas—and the Christmases of many others—merry and bright.
"I don't know what I would've done," he said. "I can't explain it."
