Bolingbrook Nonprofit Brings The Holidays To Families In Need

BOLINGBROOK, IL — For over 40 years, Bolingbrook's Operation Christmas has been bringing the holidays to families in need.

"We're basically giving [families] a Christmas that they may not have had," Lee Bush Jr., Executive Director of Operation Christmas: Bolingbrook, told Patch.

Bush said that the nonprofit started in 1973, as a way to bring several different organizations all under one roof.

The organization is able to give families in need two boxes of food, and toys and stocking stuffers for children, Bush said.

"We average 300 to 400 families we can help, which includes over 1,000 children," Bush said. Last year, the organization served 369 families, including 1,029 children.

Every year's efforts includes fundraisers and donations from local schools, businesses and organizations; and the next opportunity to donate to the cause is during the nonprofit's toy and gift drive on Nov. 26.

The drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Roger C. Claar Performing Arts Stage, 375 W. Briarcliff. You can stop by and take a picture with Santa, and also give a toy donation. Toys are needed for children ages 0-17.

"It's just about the community coming together to help each other at Christmastime," Bush said.