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Help Needed To Provide For Foster Teens

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: December 3, 2008

RIVERVIEW - With hundreds of teens in foster care throughout Hillsborough County, the pressure is on a local charity to make sure each of them receives a holiday gift this year.

Foster Angels of Hillsborough County wants to provide gifts for 300 to 400 teens in foster care this holiday season. To do that, they need help from the public, said founder Mac MacNeel.

"The teens have always been our biggest challenge, because people tend to think of Christmas for the little ones. But it's for all the foster kids," MacNeel said.

"Gift cards are the biggest hit. That way, they can get exactly what they want, the color they want, the brand they want, everything," he said. Gift cards for Target, Old Navy and Wal-Mart are among the most popular.

The Foster Angels program has sponsors throughout the county where donors can pluck names from a Christmas tree and purchase the items on the list or provide cash or gift cards.

Purchases can be dropped off at a sponsor location or mailed to Foster Angels of Hillsborough County, P.O. Box 1392, Riverview, FL 33568-1392.

For children and teens in foster care whose names and wish lists aren't taken from the trees and don't get donations, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office provides volunteers who band together for mass shopping trips.

"It's definitely a great experience, knowing who we're helping out," said Deputy Jerry Carey of the sheriff's crime prevention unit, who helps coordinate the effort for the sheriff's office.

"We get mostly necessities. Some of these kids arrive in a foster home with nothing more than the clothes they're wearing," Carey said.

Although the volunteers don't interact with the foster children when they receive their holiday gifts, it is enough to know that they have those gifts, Carey said.

Donations are tax-deductible, and the program does provide receipts, MacNeel said.

Call (813) 770-4313 to get a list of sponsor locations or call MacNeel at (813) 677-7376.

All purchases must be received by Dec. 19.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566.

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