CLEARWATER, Fla. — There’s no feeling like that of a kid on Christmas morning waking up to presents under the tree. It’s a feeling many families experiencing homelessness in Tampa Bay are worried their children won’t have this year, but one nonprofit is working hard to make sure every child in Pinellas County feels the magic of Christmas.
The mental health nonprofit Directions For Living launched its annual Directions For Giving program this year and found that the number of children in need more than doubled, from 200 last year to 500 this year.
“They are children who live in hotels because their families cannot afford rent. They are children who are living in cars because their parents can't even afford the hotel anymore. They are parents and children who live in homes where parents have received a $700 a month increase in their rent. And so all of their disposable income is now literally they are, you know, making a decision between does somebody get a Christmas present or do I pay the rent?” said April Lott, Directions For Living CEO.
The adopt-a-family program allowed anyone in the community to pick up a child’s wishlist and return the items. By the time distribution started on Dec. 15, the nonprofit had a room filled with thousands of presents, from toys to bikes.
“I ain’t gonna lie to you, they thought they weren’t gonna get nothing… so yeah, they got them something,” said Parent Bryseana Mills as she came to pick up some gifts for her three children.
Pre-pandemic, they knew of about 12 families who were street-homeless at any given time.
Today, they know of 140.
We road along when a case manager went to deliver presents to the grandmother and aunt of a 12-year-old girl with autism.
“We'd lost our house, the rent was raised, and we lost our house, and we ended up in our car for about almost four months,” said Deborah Shores, the girl’s grandmother.
Shores said she knew an officer in the area that connected them to Directions For Living, who got them into a hotel and then eventually a studio apartment.
“See, this is gonna make our Christmas,” Shores said as she went through the bag of books, clothes, and other presents. “If it wasn’t for Directions, I don’t know where we’d be… They saved us! We were living in our car.”
The program makes sure to give the gifts to parents or guardians unwrapped with wrapping paper so that they can wrap the presents themselves and watch the kids open them on Christmas morning.
“It is the magic of Christmas, and it really does kind of restore hope. It helps our children and, quite frankly, their parents to feel the love of their community,” Lott explained.
As one of the case managers loaded his car up, he told us, “It’s just not only the gifts itself, it’s also the love you’re showing.. Driving to each home is like ‘I’m here for you, I’ve got your back,’” said Chrystian De Jesus Otero.
Shores was brought to tears. She told us about the manager who helped her and her family.
“Thank you, more than I can say,” she said to all those who donated, adding that her Christmas present will be watching her granddaughter’s face when she opens her gifts.
Directions For Living provides mental health services as well as housing resources. If you’d like to donate or if you are in need of help, click here.
