Is there a way to help others than by sponsoring a child or donating funds?

• Refer an isolated or elderly friend, neighbor or family member to receive a Fruit & Goodie Bag
  If you know an elderly or isolated person in the Trumansburg area who would like to receive a Fruit  and Treats bag with holiday greetings, please call Holly Weatherby at (607) 387-5266 with the person’s  Name, Address and Phone number, or you can send the same information by email to tburgchristmas@gmail.com and it will be forwarded to Holly.

• Refer a family in need
  We encourage you to talk with the family before you refer them to be sure they would like to participate and then give the family the Christmas Bureau’s contact information:   email-tburgchristmas@gmail.com  or call 607 387 3428

How much does it cost to sponsor a child?

We ask that you commit to buying at least one outfit of new clothing (such as jeans/pants, turtle neck or t-shirt and a warm sweater, fleece, or hoodie), a hat and gloves or mittens, and 1-3 presents for each child you sponsor.  

We offer the following spending guidelines:

Children 12 and under: $60-$70 / Teenagers:  $90-$110

Can I, as a Sponsor, request a specific age or gender?

We appreciate your willingness to sponsor any child in need. While we understand that you may enjoy shopping for a child of a certain age or gender unfortunately we are unable to guarantee that we can accommodate such requests.

If you have a child in school, we ask that you NOT request a child of the same age since it can be awkward for your child to see a classmate wearing the clothes you purchased.  We do our best to protect the privacy of all children and families.

As a Sponsor, when will I find out who I’ll be shopping for?

You will receive a Sponsor letter of instructions and a personalized shopping form with details about each child( sizes & preferences) before Thanksgiving -which will give you two to three weeks to purchase your gifts and wrap them.  The letter and form will provide you with specific shopping information for the child or children that you are sponsoring as well as instructions for delivering the gifts on Saturday, December 10th  from 8:30-11:30am at Ulysses Square 1891 Trumansburg Road.  Please arrange to drop off your gifts in that time block. 

How do I know what to buy?

The Christmas Bureau asks every family to give us information to share with sponsors, including each child’s age, grade in school, gender, clothing sizes, color preferences, any special interests ( like teams, characters, etc ), and what the children might like as presents. We provide that information to you on an individualized child’s Shopper Form.  We ask you to write down on the Shopper Form each gift you have bought – so parents will know what has been purchased.  We have found that some parents provide lots of details and some are so grateful that they say anything is fine -and then you can decide based on the children’s ages and sizes.  Presents should be wrapped and tagged with the child’s age & gender (eg- “for the 7 year old boy”) for identification “under the tree”.

Do sponsors deliver presents directly to the children?

No. We ask you to deliver wrapped/tagged gifts to the TACB depot and then families come to pick up their presents and food from us.  To protect the family’s privacy, we assign each family a number- no names are used. This year’s TACB drop off depot is at Ulysses Square 1891Trumansburg Rd  Trumansburg NY

When & where do we bring the wrapped presents?

On Saturday Dec. 10th, please bring wrapped gifts with their gift tags PLUS the shopper form listing all of your purchases. Place these things in a large bag so that all the family gifts are together.  Outside, on the  bag of gifts put the Family Number.  Deliver your gifts to the  above depot address  anytime between 8:30-11:30 am. 

Do we buy gifts for the parents?

No. We ask you to focus your efforts on the children. We provide food for the family. If you’d like, you might buy a game that the whole family can play- which can be labeled “For the whole family”

Can I donate used toys, clothes or stuffed animals?

We can not accept extra gifts.  If you have NEW, unopened gifts, you might consider bringing those, unwrapped, to the Trumansburg Fire Department for their Letters to Santa program.  We can not accept any used toys, stuffed animals, clothing, or books, etc. We suggest you donate those items to one of the area charities.  

How many people does the Christmas Bureau help?

In 2021, 132  children received clothing and gifts, their 54 families received a week’s worth of food and 99 older, isolated individuals received Fruit & Goodie Bags.

Who may I contact if I have more questions?

E-mail us at tburgchristmas@gmail.com  or call 607 387 3428