Extra Gifts Cancel Title is required

We want to share an important update with the MSC family as many of you generously give Extra Gifts (EG’s).  

When the pandemic began staff in each of our agencies looked for ways to ensure they were able to continue helping the youth and families, including delivering EG’s, without putting the kids, their parents, volunteers, or staff at risk.  They began delivering EG’s as gift cards, gift certificates to local stores and through digital pay services. 

What the staff learned is that the families liked the convenience and time savings of not having to arrange their schedule to miss work or school to shop or travel to the community center to pick up items during the office hours. Having the funds or gift card directly available to them, means the families can shop during their normal daily lives and feel safer while traveling home with fewer items, rather than one large purchase. 

The youth and their families also shared that being able to select how to use their donation, including paying for utilities, gave them a greater sense of independence and accountability that was lacking when a staff member helped them select how to use the funds.  As you know, empowerment is one of our program pillars and by allowing the families to continue to receive their EG’s and shop in this way gives them another opportunity to learn to be empowered. 

To honor the youth and families in our program and to increase the impact of your donations, we, in conjunction with our field staff, decided to continue providing EG’s in this manner going forward.  The families are extremely happy about this decision, and we hope that you will be too.   Families will continue to let us know how they use their donation and will send a letter and personal photos of their gifts. 

Of course, we know that not every family has the means to take photos or send their letter digitally. In these instances, our staff will pass along a personal message of gratitude from the youth and family that they receive when they call to share what items they purchased. Our Care Team will share their sentiments with you when they contact you to share the items purchased. Regarding photos, our staff will be exploring more sustainable options of how to collect photos when families do not have the means to take the photos themselves.