Community Corner

High School Students Christmas Shop for a Cause

Hinsdale Central clubs and teams adopted DuPage families supported by HCS Family Services and shopped for Christmas gifts the families otherwise could not afford.

Christmas arrived on Dec. 7 for 84 DuPage County families.

held a Christmas gift distribution at Hinsdale's Memorial Hall Wednesday for needy area families “adopted” by teams and clubs. HCS connected the families with the volunteering student groups, who then shopped for Christmas gifts based on the parents’ requests.

HCS director of programs Kim Stephens said each family arrived Wednesday with a number. They were handed a turkey upon arrival at HCS and then handed over their ticket.

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“We run upstairs and grab their number and bring it down and they get a Christmas,” Stephens said.

Hinsdale Central senior Corinne Smith represented both the Hinsdale Central poms team and the Ambassadors Club Wednesday. She shopped for a boy who was one of four children in his family.

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“I went and bought him a little sweater and little trucks,” Smith said.

Smith said it was fun seeing kids arrive Wednesday “mesmerized” by all the Christmas gifts.

Donna Coffey, a Hinsdale Central mother and HCS volunteer, said she couldn’t count how many recipients left Memorial Hall with tears in their eyes.

“It’s not even like they’re walking out with tons of stuff, but they’re so grateful,” Coffey said.

Stephens said Wednesday’s distribution was one of several HCS does in partnership with Hinsdale groups. On Saturday, she said, the Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club and St. Isaac Jogues held similar events.

HCS Family Services has served the villages of Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Darien, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Westmont and Willowbrook since 1937.


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