* I cannot imagine what it’s like being a foster child. Their lives weren’t good before they were put into the system, but those were the only lives they had. And now everything these children have known has been turned upside-down and they have no idea at all if they will ever have any sense of normalcy in their lives. It must be impossible to comprehend and so incredibly frustrating.

Luckily, we have people in our society who want to help these kids. And we also have a way for everyone to pitch in.

Our longtime commenter OneMan said this yesterday when we kicked off our annual fundraiser to help Lutheran Social Services of Illinois buy Christmas presents for foster children…

You would be amazed by the impact of a gift when a kid is in a challenging situation. I work with a children’s charity that does stuff with pediatric hospital patients and a gift makes a world of difference.

Your contribution can bring some joy to a child who is in need and likely in pain at no fault of their own. For some of us, holiday gifts can be frivolous, even sometimes meaningless. But giving a gift to those kids shows them that somebody actually cares about them during a time of life-altering trauma. It also helps ease a burden on their foster parents.

So, please, click here and contribute whatever you can. We have 2,530 foster children to help this year. Gifts average $25 each, so that’s a total need of $63,250. We raised $7,000 yesterday. Thanks to your loving generosity, 280 children will receive presents. But there’s more to do, so, again, please click here.

Thank you.

*** UPDATE 1 *** I was just informed that an anonymous donor will match whatever we raise today up to $10,000.

Wow.

Let’s get on it.

…Adding… As noted above, we ended yesterday at about $7,000. So, when you go to the site, subtract $7K from the amount listed in the upper right-hand corner to see where we stand today. At 10:13 this morning, we had raised $3,575 today. That’s what will be matched.

*** UPDATE 2 *** As of 12:08 pm, we have raised more than $11,300 today alone! So, we’ve hit and then surpassed the match amount. You folks are awesome! Not including the match, we’ve raised enough money since yesterday to buy toys for 736 foster kids, or 29 percent of all the kids in LSSI’s program. With the match, we’ll have raised enough money to bring a little joy to 1,136 kids’ lives. Click here to keep it going!. Thanks!

*** UPDATE 3 *** The $10,000 matching contribution has been received! From the donor…

Thank you to Rich Miller and all of the readers who give this holiday season to help provide for children in need.

Wow.