With the completion of the Golden Gobbler food drive, Montini begins the Adopt-A-Family program to provide a Christmas to 30 needy families in the surrounding area. The Adopt-A-Family program at Montini involves each homeroom adopting a family for Christmas. Each homeroom collects gifts that are presented to the family in mid-December along with a fresh turkey. This program shows the true good-heartedness of the Montini students because they give for the sake of giving and not because of competition. The students are not forced into providing each family a Christmas, but each year everyone joins together to help people living in difficult circumstances.

The campus ministry, led by Mike Blanchette and Kelly Davis, along with Maryann O’Neill and the student government have teamed up to make this year’s Adopt-A-Family a huge success. According to Davis, “I think this year’s Adopt-A-Family is going really well, and homerooms are excited. Some homerooms have stacks of presents already. The seniors are also stepping up to get the underclassmen excited.” Everyone has gotten off to a strong start this year, and no family will walk away disappointed Dec. 15 when they come to pick up their Christmas.

The Adopt-A-Family program was not always modeled the way it is now. Years ago, Adopt-A-Family and Golden Gobbler were combined as a school-wide collection, and everything collected would be split equally among the needy families. The programs also used to take place in Chicago, but some students did research and realized that there was just as much poverty in the surrounding areas. And after seeing how giving the Montini students could be, the school split up the two programs and was able to provide food to not only the families but also local shelters. The collection became more individualized with each homeroom taking on a specific family instead of the entire school donating to all families. Every year the program has evolved to help more people, and every year the Montini students step up to the plate to help others in need. The newly organized homerooms have added to the program this year because students have the opportunity to see how other classes react in homerooms with mixed grade levels. The older students are able to get the younger students excited to participate in the program.

This year Montini has taken on 20 families from Catholic Charities and 10 families from York Township. These aren’t people living in the ghettos of Chicago, but they do live in the surrounding neighborhoods. Many students don’t realize how close poverty is to home. There is poverty in every crevice of life, and Montini has taken on the task of helping out its neighbors. These families mostly are living in subsidized housing and can’t afford to make a Christmas for their family. Sometimes families are unable to pick up their gifts and food from Montini, and the Montini students deliver Christmas to these families. No family is ever forgotten.

O’Neill, the Montini principal, said, “Our goal is to make sure every child, teen and adult know someone cares about him or her.” Most of the kids ask for practical items, such as clothes or shoes, but Montini makes certain that each child has a gift to open on Christmas.

It takes a team effort to make the Adopt-A-Family program work, and Montini takes on the challenge with joy year after year.