Martha: For us, it’s not the holidays without Adopt-a-Family. It’s magical that people will work together to provide this for someone else.

Diane: It shows families that our hospital cares for them beyond their medical needs – they care about them as humans. This is about making sure families have magic during the holidays, and our hospital works hard to make that happen.

As social workers, we’re uniquely equipped to run this program because we get to know the families. We know their stories, and we know their needs from financial to psychosocial.

It’s amazing to see our warehouse start out empty on a Friday, and then be totally filled with presents and bikes. And then we watch it go from wall-to-wall full to empty in a 48-hour time span. This community, whether they are part of the hospital or separate, made the holidays happen for 300 families last year, and that’s pretty incredible.

Martha: It’s important to remember that we adopt the whole family, not just the patient. That includes siblings and parents or guardians.

One year, a family’s car barely made it here to pick up the presents. The family drove all the way from Waco. We packed everything in that little car. The mom could barely fit inside for the drive home. I still remember how she looked out at us from the window with her head in her hands, weeping because she was so overwhelmed.

You don’t forget those kinds of things.