A Special Gift Request

Team: Dionne & Roger

For our Give Yourself shopping, Roger and I chose B.A.S.E. Camp’s Christmas Family Adoption Program where we “adopted” a family with a sick child and siblings to shop for. B.A.S.E. Camp is an organization that provides support for children and their families dealing with cancer and other life-threatening hematological illnesses. The Christmas Adoption Program allows these children and their siblings to make a wish list that Roger and I would then fulfill.

When you’re given a list of specific items and a budget to stick to, it’s a little trickier than just grabbing toys and food items off the shelves until you hit your max. Thus, our mission to fulfill the wish list seemed a bit of a challenge at first, but Roger and I were determined and worked together to ensure that we got all the items that the children requested.

The gift items ranged from a play kitchen set to a Nintendo DS with games. Among all the items on the list, there was one item for a special little girl that was scarce find: a pink cowgirl hat. It seemed simple enough, but when I called around to local stores they didn’t have any in stock, nor did they know where I could find one. Then Roger came to the rescue and searched his resources. He found the perfect store that had just what we needed and more; Skip’s Western Outfitters in Altamonte Springs. We found the perfect hat and a cute bandana to match! Once we told the staff why we were shopping and what we wanted they didn’t hesitate to help us find just the right hat; they were a great help.

We hope our gifts brighten up the lives of the children and the family we adopted. We thoroughly enjoyed giving ourselves and are glad we could make a difference in the lives of others.