If you prefer not to shop, we will arrange to do it for you! Pick out an individual and send cash or a check payable to Brenda Piatz, Academic Programs. We will provide you with store receipts after we shop, if you wish.  We can also provide gift forms for tax purposes. 

are headed by women working to become self-supporting and to provide stable homes for their children. They are participants in the Transitional Housing Program of the St. Paul YWCA, through which they gain a variety of job and family skills. In the last thirteen years, we have contributed more than $50,000 in gifts to the families in the program.

Please join Mac staff and faculty in our special project to provide holiday gifts for needy families. The program has fewer families this year and many Mac staff and faculty participate in gift giving, so this year we are taking a different approach. Instead of adopting an entire family, we have divided up the families and you will adopt an individual family member instead of the whole family. Please purchase two or three gifts from the individual's wish list following the general guidelines below. Also, we are going to provide some stocking stuffers this year, so you can also adopt an individual to provide stocking stuffers for. You can also sign up to donate gift tags or tape. St. Thomas University Law School will be donating the wrapping paper this year.  Because so many faculty and staff want to contribute, I ask at this time that even if you are a department or group adopting, please select only one individual at this time so that everyone who wants to participate can.  You may also select the stocking stuffers for the individual you adopt. If we don't get enough participation and there are still individuals to adopt, I will contact you to see if you would like to make additional adoptions.

Visit the wish list page, choose a family member, fill in your name in the "Adopter" column, and buy two or three gifts for that individual.  You may also fill in your name next to the stocking stuffers for that individual if you wish.  

• Bring gifts to BRENDA PIATZ in the Academic Programs Office, Weyerhaeuser 215 (62 Macalester Street).
• CLEARLY MARK each bag or gift with the individual name, age and family number.
• DO NOT WRAP your gifts.
• We need all gifts by noon WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7.

As a general guideline, while some donors give nearly everything on a wish list, gifts tend to average in the range of $15-20 for very young children, $25-30 for pre-teens, $30-35 for teens and $40-60 for moms. For stocking stuffers, each item should be in the $1.00-$5.00 range.  Suggestions are small stuffed animals, lip gloss, nail polish, make-up, bath/body products, crayons, coloring books, books, socks, slipper socks, mittens, gloves, stickers, card games, hair accessories, Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars, action figures, puzzles, silly bandz/bracelets, key chains or lanyards, etc.

Questions?

To find out more, or to arrange to deliver your gifts,
e-mail Brenda Piatz,

piatz@macalester.edu,
or call x6036.

This is a project carried out by staff and faculty at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. We also thank staff, students and faculty at the St. Thomas University Law School and the law firm of Fish and Richardson, P.C. for adopting several families each year.