December 30, 2002
Children's home residents adopt
needy families for Christmas care
___SAN ANTONIO--They were unlikely philanthropists. Living in a children's home and separated from their families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the children were prime candidates for despair and self-pity.
HOUSE PARENT Susan Lindberg poses with her children, Alesha, 5, Ashlynn, 3, and Braedon, 2 , in front of their Christmas tree in the Baugh_Residence.
___Yet as a group, they determined to give to someone who had even less.
___The tradition began four years ago among youth living at the Baptist Child & Family Services San Antonio campus. The ministry is an agency of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, through which it receives funding from Texas Baptist churches.
___This year, as in each of the previous three, children living in each of the six houses of Baptist Children's Home Ministries adopted a struggling family from the STAR program, an acronym for Services to Teens at Risk.
___At Thanksgiving, the children delivered a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and at Christmas, they delivered food and presents.
___Susan and Bob Lindberg were thrilled when they first heard about the holiday giving program. As the parents of three small children and houseparents for eight young boys at the Eula Mae Baugh house, they try to provide learning and growing opportunities for the children in their care. After Mrs. Lindberg first mentioned the program to the children, they became so excited they asked her every day if it was time to go shopping yet.
___Eleven-year-old Joshuasaid the Lindbergs let them be a part of the project from the beginning. All the children were present when Lindberg made the first call to the STAR family to schedule delivery of the Thanksgiving meal. The Lindbergs took all the children to the grocery store, where they helped select the food. Joshua picked out the cranberry sauce, and Alesha, the Lindbergs' 5-year-old daughter, picked out the pies because, she explained, "that's the best part."
___When the Lindbergs and their extended family arrived at the home of their STAR family the night before Thanksgiving, the house was dark. Alesha was shocked, not by the family, but because there was no electricity in the house. Each of the children from the Baugh house walked in and introduced themselves, beaming from ear to ear because they knew just how important their gift was. After all, how could the family have cooked their own dinner without electricity?
___Alesha looked forward to helping another family at Christmas. Helping other people made her feel happy.
___"They have less than me, but they are just as special," she said.
___Joshua also looked forward to Christmas--"so I can get that warm feeling deep inside my stomach knowing that I helped someone else."
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