Donations needed for Guadalupe Center holiday gift drive

Immokalee’s Guadalupe Center is reminding residents to consider less fortunate Collier residents this holiday season. The nonprofit, which offers early childhood education, after-school tutoring and college prep programs, is holding a gift drive Dec. 12-16 where low-income parents will have the opportunity to pick out Christmas presents for their children.

“These are families who would otherwise have to choose between paying rent, utilities and food or giving their children a gift to open on Christmas,” said Kelly Hammer, director of community outreach and public relations for the center. “So this provides a brighter Christmas for them.”

The public has until Thursday to donate unwrapped gifts such as clothes, sporting goods and toys appropriate for children six weeks to 18 years old. Drop-offs can be made at the Guadalupe Center Resale Shop at 81 Trail Blvd. in Naples, the Guadalupe Center Development Office at 2640 Golden Gate Parkway, Suite 106, in Naples, and the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee at 509 Hope Circle.

The center, which serves 1,100 children and teenagers through educational and developmental programs, has been running the drive for more than a decade. Parents will be able to browse the Holiday Gift Shop, which will be decorated by volunteers as a winter wonderland, and pick out three gifts per child.

“It’s just amazing. Parents come thinking maybe they’ll get one gift per child, but they actually get to walk out with a large bag filled with gifts,” Hammer said. “We even have two very generous people in town who donate bicycles, so they walk out with a bike, a helmet and a lock. They’re so grateful; it’s very emotional.”