Friends of Orange County Department of Social Services “Share Your Holiday” Program

You may know them as the erstwhile owners of Balloons and Tunes on West Main Street, but Sharon Collins and Pat Garavaglia have also been organizing the “Share Your Holiday” Program of the Friends of Orange County Department of Social Services for decades. In 1982, while watching the news, they learned about the need for holiday gifts for children in foster care in Orange County. “Helping others is a motivator for me and Pat,” Ms. Collins said. They bought gifts and took them to the Department of Social Services (DSS). Their friends learned about it and wanted to get involved. After 5 years of taking gifts to DSS, they were given a list of requested gifts for 12 children. Over the years, the list grew until now it’s around 200, including about 20 people who are disabled or elderly without family.

In the beginning, they wrapped every gift. Ms. Garavaglia recalls using a football-field length of wrapping paper one year. But now DSS asks that all gifts be unwrapped so their staff can check and wrap them.

Today, Ms. Garavaglia serves as President of the Friends, which was started in 1992 by five women who realized that the DSS needed help supplying what clients needed. When the Friends started, Ms. Collins and Ms. Garavaglia supported the work, later joining their holiday sponsoring/gift buying program to the Friends agenda.

In organizing the program, Ms. Collins said, “We decided our job was to make it easy for people to participate. Most people want to help. But you have to make it easy for them. So we created a system so that people can contact us, get a list, and shop with their own money or with donated money. And the Fire Department assembles bicycles. It’s a community effort and people can participate how they’d like.” There are people, many customers of Balloons and Tunes, who have sponsored gifts for children for decades. “You don’t get to see their faces Christmas day, but you know you’ve made someone very happy,” said Ms. Garavaglia.

The Friends is a non-profit organization: “Our mission is to assist social workers of The Orange County Department of Social Services to immediately address or prevent human crises for any economically vulnerable person or family in our community.”

Ms. Garavaglia said the Friends gets requests for assistance meeting a variety of needs. “We’re the only group that helps with security deposits for housing. That’s a big thing we do. We also make sure every child in foster care is sponsored at the holidays.”

While not part of Orange County DSS, their website lists these areas of support from the Friends:

• Camp scholarships
• Emergency pharmacy expenses
• Emergency rent or security deposits
• Emergency utility assistance
• Food distribution
• Household items
• School supplies for students
• Thrift store vouchers for clothing

Orange County social workers submit requests to the Friends and they respond within 48 hours.

For example, the Friends recently supported 19 families displaced from the Camelot Village apartments in Chapel Hill after flooding from Tropical Storm Chantal, helping them find alternative housing. Ms. Garavaglia said, “They lost everything. There was no warning.” In at least one case, 5ft. of water filled an apartment. “Some are still living in a hotel. We give money to extend their stays and gift cards for clothing.”

Message to readers: If you want to participate in the "Share Your Holiday" program, you can:

--sponsor (purchase) gifts for one or more children using a wish list you’ll be given

--donate money

--shop for a child and get reimbursed (volunteer shoppers) get reimbursed (volunteer shoppers)

Contact Ms. Collins and Ms. Garavaglia (sharonpat@mindspring.com) to get a wish list. They already have 86 children and 22 adults with gift sponsors! They need all sponsors signed up by December 1. Unwrapped gifts can be dropped off at Orange County Social Services between December 7 and 9.

Ultimately, they say, it means something to know that someone cares about you. Also, if you want to be happy, help someone else. Ms. Collins said, “People have an innate desire to support and care for each other. And we give them the opportunity to do that. And it’s an opportunity for us to give them that opportunity. Every year, I’m amazed at how much people do. Inside of us, we all want to connect with each other.”

They believe this program blossomed because of the community. Most sponsors came from their business contacts. It’s a good example of "a small business creating relationships that branch out throughout the community."

“It’s incumbent on us to do everything we can to make this world a better place.”

 Buy local, if you can! The Carrborean is assembling a local gift buying guide. It will be included in the December free print edition and online, available the first week of December. If you are selling gifts in Carrboro, please fill out this google form so we can include you in the guide.

*Updated to include location of Balloons and Tunes and this correction: The Friends of Orange County Department of Social Services is not the only organization helping with rent, e.g., Orange Congregations in Mission and IFC also help with rent. Friends is the only organization providing security deposits for housing.