By Misty Cryer
The Christmas program of Faith, Hope and Love Foundation is in full swing. Donations are greatly appreciated to meet increasing needs in the community, and the application process for assistance through the program this year will continue through November 29.
“This is our 10th year doing this,” said Alana Carreon, Executive Director of Faith, Hope and Love Foundation. “The reason that we started it in 2014 is because, as we were meeting with clients about the needs they had like utilities, rent, and things like that, what we kept hearing is clients were saying, ‘I can’t pay my rent (or utilities) this month because we spent money to buy Christmas presents for our kids (or coats for my kids),” she said.
“It just seemed that there was a need to assist our clients with Christmas gifts, with clothing, with coats, with food, so that it would free up their finances to be able to put it toward their listed expenses,” Carreon said.
“Now, that was 10 years ago. With the economic instability that we’ve seen in the last couple of years, even coming out of COVID, that need has grown not only significantly in the number of people we’re seeing apply, but with inflation—the need that exists right now,” she said. “The first year, we had 30 families in 2014. Now, we are assisting over 150 families. We have seen it grow exponentially,” she added.
“One thing that we really love is normalizing the experience of being able to shop for Christmas gifts. That is just something that people enjoy doing, is getting to go and select gifts for their own kids or to select clothing for their kids,” said Carreon.
“We collect toys, and we collect donations. We set up the store at First Methodist Church in their fellowship hall, and we allow the families to come in and actually shop and pick out gifts for their kids,” she said, referring to the Christmas Shoppe.
“We also ask each family what a wish list item for their child may be that might be a bigger item. We call it a Blessing Tree, and we have tags at Cone Jewelers, and we have tags at First Methodist Church and at Carlsbad Floral. They get a wish list item that’s on the tree, and they get to shop for three additional gifts,” said Carreon.
“We gift wrap everything for them. A lot of times, the donor that gets the tag will purchase an outfit for the child with their wish list item. For those that don’t get an outfit, we let the parents shop for winter clothing as well,” said Carreon.
“Anything that we do, we really can’t do it without the community support. There is such a generous spirit here in Carlsbad. So many people want to get involved and want to help out. The Christmas Cruise is a huge part of that,” she said.
“There are other churches and businesses that we have the honor of partnering with. We truly believe that we are better together. We love getting to partner with those businesses and organizations,” Carreon said.
“We partner with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They put together a box with items for a Christmas dinner. They will be providing those again for our families,” she said.
“Linda Wilson’s foundation, God’s Light in the Darkness, they provide a food certificate for each family,” said Carreon. “When we started, we did do turkeys or hams, but to try to save on freezer space and refrigerator space. Linda donates a gift card so they can buy their own turkey or ham, and then have plenty on the food card for any necessary grocery items that they might need,” she said.
“We do have other churches that partner with us. Word of Life Church has provided toys in the past. They also provide gift wrap and items like that,” said Carreon. “I got a call from Oasis Church, and they want to do a toy drive for us as well, so we will be partnering with them,” she added.
“The Christian Children’s Ministry at First Methodist, which is like their Tuesday/Thursday program, every year they do a huge coat drive and food drive for us that we use at Christmas time as well,” Carreon said.
“Our Christmas Shoppe is going to be December 13 and 14 at First Methodist Church here in Carlsbad. The deadline for our applications this year is November 29,” she said. Applications are accepted through the foundation’s website: https://www.fhlcarlsbad.org/christmas-shoppe.
“Christmas Anonymous is such an incredibly established program,” Carreon said. She said that the FHL Foundation does cross-reference with Christmas Anonymous and other organizations that assist families at Christmas time. The foundation supplements those efforts, as well as assisting established clients to help ensure that assistance is available for families in need.
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