ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Christmas is two weeks away, but the holidays aren't joyful for everyone. Catholic Charities of Chemung and Schuyler Counties looks to ease that burden by organizing a program where a community member can adopt a family for the holidays; a way to lend a hand with gift giving. 

"We have adopted 92 families with the help of the community," says Katie Rhodes, Marketing and Development Director. "So these are families that are, in our programs, already receiving services from Catholic Charities."

Participating donors recently went shopping for items that a truly essential for families. This year, there's a focus on winter clothing with the cold months ahead.

"They receive a wish list from the family and then they purchase items from that. So all the packages are gonna vary kind of based on what the family needs. But we really focused on clothing and shoes this year. So each of our families are signed up with Arctic League so the kids will get toys. Nobody has to worry, [that] they won't get toys. But we really wanted to focus on the needs," explains Rhodes.

Volunteers from the community are always looking to give back, and a handful of women stepped up to the plate. The volunteers are wrapping presents for 92 families, probably equal to several hundred total presents. 

"I love to come help do the wrapping for Christmas here at Catholic Charities," says volunteer Joan Austin. "There's not a lot I can do right now monetarily, so this is my way of giving back, is helping, I mean, and we're doing a lot of wrapping today and getting a lot of families done, so that's a good thing."

Once the shopping list has been checked over twice, the real magic begins. For the majority of the day Wednesday, volunteers wrapped a series of gifts, with care.

"The ladies here at Catholic Charities they separate everything out by family and then they give us a list of the names on the family and the ages and the names and then we go. It's all separated out by person. So it makes it very easy for us to wrap because all we have to do is look at the list and it says child one and we find the bag or tote that says child one and then it has a name and we wrap it all and put their name on it," says Austin.

When the wrapping is complete for each of the families, volunteers will take the gifts over to an assigned spot in Catholic Charities for organizational purposes. After all the packing is done, volunteers will go up and down the halls of the center, double-checking each list and making sure every family's wishes are fulfilled correctly. 

Catholic Charities shared they have adjusted hours for the holidays. Below you can find that information, as well as ways to get support when the center is closed.

Hours of Operation for center on East Church Street: closed, Tuesday, December 24th, and reopening Friday, December 27th.

Elmira Community Kitchen located at 160 High Street is hosting a Christmas Dinner on Wednesday, December 25th from 1-2 p.m. Everybody is welcome.

Other services & locations:

Domestic Violence Hotline: (607)-742-9629

Emergency Shelter: (607)-732-5954

High Street Food Pantry (drive-through) at 160 High St. Tuesday 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Samaritan Center Food Pantry: 380 S. Main Street - food is available for pick up during regular business hours. That information can be found here.

In the case of an emergency including issues like food outside of regular pantry hours, call: (607)-734-9784.