What is the purpose of the Lake City Holiday Project?
To provide holiday gifts to low-income children in NE Seattle.
How do you register children for the Lake City Holiday Project?
We work with the following human service providers: North Seattle Family Resource Center, the Low-Income Housing Institute, Solid Ground Magnuson and the Lake City Collective. They register clients who come to them for services.
How many children receive gifts through this program every year?
We usually register between five and six hundred children every year.
How long has the Lake City Holiday Project been around?
The Lake City Holiday Project started as the Holiday Helper program in 1986.
How does this program work?
Parents register their children with their first name, gender, and age, and choose two gift cards from a supplied list. We match each child to a sponsor, who volunteers to purchase the gift cards they have requested. We package the gift cards for each child, and group them by family. We return the packets to the human service provider where they registered, and the families pick up their cards. We also solicit cash donations to cover children who do not have direct sponsors and to purchase grocery store gift cards to give each family help with a holiday meal.
What is the financial commitment to sponsor a child?
Sponsors should purchase the two gift cards requested by each child at a value of $25 per card for a total of $50. Optionally, sponsors can also include one $25 grocery gift card for every two children.
Can I make a financial donation instead?
Yes! You can donate online at mc-care.org, or you can write us a check.
Where should I send my donation?
All donations, including checks or gift cards, should be mailed to:
Meadowbrook Community Care
PO Box 15826
Seattle, WA 98115
How many children are registered for LCHP in 2021?
We have 601 children registered for our program in 2021. This is the highest number of registrants in the last 10+ years.
Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. The Lake City Holiday Project is a program of Meadowbrook Community Care, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Everyone who provides contact information when they donate will receive a donation receipt.
Why is the program doing gift cards instead of actual gifts like they have in the past?
The bagging and distribution process requires dozens of volunteers of all ages working together in close quarters for multiple hours. For the safety of those volunteers we decided we needed to stay with the gift card model for 2021. We anticipate moving back to our usual gift purchase model in 2022.