WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — "It's exciting. This year is our fifth year doing our Christmas gift drive initiative, and our goal this year is to give to 300 working single moms," said Donna Nelson, who founded the Adopt a Single Mom Project in 2017.
"The intention of Adopt a Single Mom is really to provide meaningful support for the mom who works and is single, and she's often the one that is doing it alone, and especially at Christmas," explained Nelson. "That's why we started off as a Christmas gift drive because often single moms don't have gifts under the tree for themselves unless they've spent their money to get it for themselves or something."
Right now, the organization is looking for nominations of single working moms this year who are earning above the federal poverty level and who may need a little extra help because of the pandemic.
"The only condition is she has to live in one of the seven counties that we represent. And she has to be working as a single mom, and she can go to our website, and everything gets done online. Anyone in the community can nominate a mom. She can nominate herself," added Nelson.
Those seven counties are Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Susquehanna, and Wyoming.
The organization will then fundraise to get $100 to spend on each of the 300 women and hand-deliver gifts bought at Boscov's for her to put under the tree on Christmas morning.
"Last year, we gifted to 200, so we're upping our game a little bit this year because the need is always there. There are actually more than 12,000 working single moms just in the seven counties that we represent," said Nelson.
In addition to nominations, the project is looking for donations and volunteers to help shop, wrap, and deliver gifts.
You can nominate a mom by clicking here.
You can learn more about the project on its website by clicking here.