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But this Christmas, for the fifth year in a row, 61-year-old Hatch will make sure her life does intersect with a family whose day-to-day life is so threadbare they can鈥檛 afford basics, let alone Christmas gifts. She will wrap gifts for people she will never meet, and pray those gifts make the difference that hope makes in any life.

Hatch is one of about 450 volunteers in the Adopt-a-Family program run by the Hope for Children Foundation. is the charitable fundraising arm of .

The Adopt-a-Family program funnels anonymous gifts to families who otherwise would have to get through Dec. 25 ignoring the bounty and generosity surrounding them.

鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app brought back the meaning of Christmas for me,鈥� said Hatch. 鈥淐hristmas is supposed to be about the beginning of our Christian experience. It鱿鱼视频app become a materialistic nightmare.鈥�

Every year that she鱿鱼视频app given gifts through the Adopt-a-Family program, Hatch has received 鈥渁 beautiful thank-you note from the mother.鈥� It鱿鱼视频app not that she gives in order to be praised by strangers, but getting that note in March extends the spirit of Christmas into the year, said Hatch.

It costs Hope For Children about $40,000 in terms of staff time, travel and office expenses to run the Adopt-a-Family program. This year there are 850 families registered that need help. A number of workplaces, day cares and even 12 schools have signed on as donors, and many will find gifts for more than one family.

Adopt-a-Family is a modest program, and it鱿鱼视频app not going to solve the endemic poverty of single-parent, mother-led households in Toronto, but 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a pretty core program,鈥� said Hope for Children executive director Mary Bowyer.

鈥淥ur mission is to strengthen families,鈥� she said.

Since many of the gifts are family necessities and some kind of gift exchange on Christmas morning imparts a sense of normality there鱿鱼视频app no sense that Adopt-a-Family is a sentimental frill, Bowyer said.

The poverty that hits women raising children alone needs longer-term answers than Christmas gift exchanges, but that doesn鈥檛 mean Christmas gift exchanges aren鈥檛 necessary. Parishes need to encourage a sense of community so poor families and single parents feel included, said Hatch. Governments need to create programs  鈥� particularly educational programs from apprenticeships to academic upgrades 鈥� that will encourage young women to believe in themselves.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e been dependent on a spouse or a spouse鱿鱼视频app family. They lack the self-confidence to make it,鈥� said Hatch.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e frightened and they鈥檙e lonely.鈥�

But then Christmas gifts arrive, and that means there鱿鱼视频app somebody out there who cares.