Originally Published December 8, 2023
By Meghan Boucher
Cost of Christmas
(Patrick Alfama welcomes people to Breakfast with Santa)
BOSTON – Organizations around Boston are working tirelessly to alleviate the stress of the holiday season for families.
One of these organizations is Chills Diamond Ring Education Foundation. During the year, they provide programs in underserved communities and their efforts only increase during the holidays.
Executive Director, Royce Veal, said that the foundation’s “Breakfast with Santa” event is one of the biggest ways they help out the community. This year the event was held in Dorchester, where 600 children signed up to take pictures with Santa and get a toy or two. Veal said the foundation’s goal is to bring a little extra joy during stressful times.
“We all know the holiday season is a tough time of year, especially when you have bills on top of bills. You want to do your best for your family to make sure that they have something to celebrate during the holidays,” said Veal.
Veal said the foundation tries to make their events accessible to everyone who needs the help.
“We try to make sure that we make it available to anybody that wants to participate and at least receive a toy or two to bring some cheerfulness and keep the joy during these holiday seasons,” said Veal
With between $15,000 to $20,000 needing to be raised to ensure a successful event, Chills Diamond Ring Education Foundation works with other organizations to achieve their goals. Veal said networks like DCF work with them to ensure the most children possible can receive a toy for Christmas.
“We have a good partnership with DCF, so we have a lot of kids that are in foster homes that will be participating. We have about 100 kids from that network alone. And outside of that, a lot of organizations come together for our particular event to make sure that it’s successful because of our community ties, the longevity that we have with our organizations, it allows us to do things in a major way.”
Other organizations like Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man program showed up to support this year’s “Breakfast with Santa” event. Patrick Alfama, who works with the program, said that there is no better feeling than putting a smile on children’s faces.
“Huge smiles. Everyone is running up to Santa. Everyone is feeling great. It doesn’t get better than this. This brings the community together, presents for everyone who needs it. There’s nothing better,” said Alfama.
Christmas in the City, who have been around for nearly 35 years, are supporting families experiencing homelessness during the holidays.
Max Julien, a coordinator for Christmas in the City, said that they have seen an increase in families needing help this year.
“Especially this year, Massachusetts is going through a migrant crisis and we were even able to partner with the state to put a little joy in the lives of those facing homelessness right now,” said Julien.
Christmas in the City started by connecting with local shelters and this mission has continued over the past 35 years. With their local connections and volunteer network, they are able to reach about 10,000 people every year.
According to Julien, Christmas in the City works to provide any resources they can to “alleviate the poverty level” families around Boston are facing.
The main goal of these organizations is to help bring a little joy to those who need it.
“Our main reason for doing this is to put a little bright light on those children who don’t have a steady home during Christmas,” said Julien.