The Amigos Sports Club of The Villages is preparing to launch its 12th annual “Adopt-A-Family Program” for the upcoming holiday season.
The group’s mission is to make Christmas brighter for children in need at Wildwood Elementary School by providing them with holiday gifts.
The program adopts the whole family – all children in the family are included and a food package is given as well. Many of the children are homeless or living with relatives due to parents being deceased, incarcerated or addicted to drugs or alcohol.
This year, the group is facing many challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic as it tries to satisfy the needs of families in need. Members will be substituting food gift cards for the bagged food that’s typically given to each family. Many of the shoppers will be purchasing gifts online instead of in stores.
Club members also have arranged staggered pickups with a very small number of volunteers to make the process as contact-less as possible to keep the families and volunteers safe.
This year’s goal is to raise $20,000 to provide at least $110 worth of clothing and toys to 150 children and food for their families. Last year, with the community’s support, the group raised more than $22,000, which allowed them to assist 60 families and 159 children.
The Adopt-A-Family Program is run by a small army of volunteers, most of whom are members of the Amigos Sport Club. There are currently more than 100 active volunteers, including more than 60 volunteer shoppers.
Members of the community who would like to make donations to the Adopt-A-Family Program can send them to Jim Wilson, 411 Rhapsody Path, The Villages, FL 32162. Checks should be made out to “Amigos Sports Club”, with “Adopt-A-Family” in the memo line. All donations must be in by Dec. 6.
The Amigos Sports Club has 350 members and was formed in August of 2008. An important aspect of the club is to support areas of need in the community. In the past 11 years that the club has conducted the Adopt-A-Family Program, members have collected more than $179,000, which has allowed them to purchase gifts for more than 1,170 children and food for more than 440 families.