Does it really help?

Our church is not having a toy drive or Christmas store where Christmas gift items can be bought for a very low price this year. Why? Because many agencies are having toy drives at this time of the year and every underprivileged family is approached by several of them, so they do get enough toys already. And even though the Christmas store was set up so that the parents and children could browse and buy the items, it still didn't feel real. It still didn't feel like the gift was coming from them, because the items had been donated and sold for only a quarter or so.

People in our community really do need some basic items and help, though. So we have two other projects for the Christmas time. One is a Christmas catalog that contains as its items donations for different projects and items that are needed over Christmas and throughout the year, such school supplies, a donation to send a child to camp, a donation to pay for a computer (or part of it) needed for an underfunded school, contribution to a van needed for neighborhood ministries etc. The other one is a collection of useful items such as shampoo, soap, deodorant, feminine hygiene items, and also jackets, sweaters, T-shirts, etc. for adults. Near the end of the year, bags of supplies will be distributed to needy families that are just scraping by to avoid homelessness.

Another agency I just found out about

Covenant House International is the largest privately-funded agency in the Americas providing shelter and other services to homeless, runaway and throwaway youth.
One of their sites is right here in Los Angeles.