Natick January 2018

Page 2 Natick Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com January 2018
NATICK MOM
continued from page 1
1,200 Marines, some as individuals
and some for groups to share.
“This is a minuscule amount,”
Adams said, “when you consider
the hundreds of thousands serving
at the moment.”
G.I.F.T.E.D. stands for Given
Items For The Enlisted and
Deployed, and the project has
steadily grown to serving all
branches with deployed members.
“Sending these care packages
has helped distract me and
feel like there is something we can
control. We can help our Service
Members know that we do think
of them while they are away and
that they are appreciated.”
Adams ships packages for all
major holidays and as often as
requests come in.
“This is where our community
steps up and helps,” she
said. “I request mostly easy open
canned foods, ramen noodles, instant
foods, coffee and individual
snacks, but I have a detailed list
with needs. Depending on where
the boxes are going, I may need
more baby wipes for hygiene purposes
since showering may not always
be possible.”
Adams has shipped packages
to soldiers in the Middle East,
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Local churches and businesses have helped G.I.F.T.E.D. by hosting
packing parties.
Japan, Korea, and other countries.
The success of each shipping
mission relies on what is donated
at the moment. “We ask that the
community help us support this
great cause and perhaps share
what we do with others. It’s usually
me and my girls packing
away unless we are lucky enough
to have packing parties.”
Adams is connected to a large
network of military families
through several online MoMs
groups (Mothers of Marines) and
military family groups including
Operation Sunshine, “whose
only goal is to ship care packages
to bring cheer and ‘Sunshine’ to
a Service Member who is down.”
Family members of enlisted
service members who have heard
of Adams’s project contact her to
request a care packages. “Some
families asking for their loved
ones are unable to ship due to financial
restraints. Not that I am
in a far better position, but as a
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great pastor [Pastor Deryck Frye
of Connect Community Church
in Ashland] once said ‘We are just
here to serve as conduits.’ So we
are here to do good and help lift
others however we can. People
donate items or funds. I have
names and the access to connect
the two together.”
Several local churches and
businesses have helped with
packing parties and provided
space for donation collection and
bake sales. For Veterans’ Day, the
Natick VFW sent two decorated
veterans to Lilja Elementary in
Natick and the Loker School
FEW GOOD MEN
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associate with the organization,
“the big basically decides they
want to volunteer. We find out
where they live, who they are,
what they do, and what they’re
interested in, and then we match
them with a child, based on location.
We do try to make sure our
bigs are matched with children a
reasonable distance away.” For
example, someone quiet, who
likes to play games would most
likely not be matched with a little
who wants to be outside playing
sports, says Lyons.
The community based program,
says Lyons, succeeds best
with a strong level of parental
support.
“Typically, parents hear about
it through word of mouth,” says
Lyons. Parents often have been
served by a program or have
heard about Big Brothers Big
Sisters through social service
agencies and notice their child
needs extra support, she says.
“Typically, children come from
single-family homes, and they
are at greater risk for many different
things,” she says. Often,
she says, these children, with
great potential, come from lowincome
families, some with significant
family members in jail or
who are “missing some key areas.
They need a friend, somebody to
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in Wayland to speak with students,
who donated items, made
Thanksgiving cards, and assisted
in assembling the holiday care
packages at school. “This in addition
to the Natick moms who
have dropped items off at my
door to help have allowed us to
ship to the 1,200 Service members
we have reached.”
Adams plans to make
G.I.F.T.E.D. a 501c3, pending
funds for paperwork. “This is
truly a soul lifting mission,” she
said, “and I hope to get enough
people involved to feel that joy.”
listen to them, with resources to
take them out to experiences the
community – even just the time
resources.”
Lyons says bigs are not expected
to spend a lot of money,
however.
“We don’t expect that at all.
Some will take their little out to
lunch or something like that, but
there is no expectation, and we
do often get a lot of great activity
options for kids donated. A
local theatre will donate tickets to
see their shows or a major sports
team will donate tickets.” Lyons,
in fact, says her organization is
working on offering more opportunities
for exposure to the arts
and to STEM activities for their
matches. “A lot of opportunities
come for free, which is awesome,”
she says, “but I think the biggest
thing is the time resource. If you
come from a single parent home,
your parent, as much as they
want to be able to do all that stuff
for you, they just don’t have the
time,” says Lyons.
Adults who are thinking of
joining the program are asked to
commit to being a big for at least
a year.
“It’s hard to make a significant
impact with less than a year,” says
Lyons. A child, she says, may already
have experienced relationships
with people who are in and
out of their lives. “We do hope
they stay longer than (a year),”
she says.
Big Brothers Big Sisters’ greatest
area of need right now is for
male mentors.
“In pretty much every community
we serve, the greatest
struggle is recruiting men,” says
Lyons, who says that’s fairly common
for a lot of nonprofit volunteers
in general. “A lot of young
FEW GOOD MEN
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