Lapeer Area View

Angel Lily Christmas provides gifts to 272 foster children




Two-year-old Paisley Pettit, the daughter of a volunteer with Justice For Lily, plays among the more than 250 packaged donations that will head to foster families in Lapeer, Genesee and Wayne counties.

Two-year-old Paisley Pettit, the daughter of a volunteer with Justice For Lily, plays among the more than 250 packaged donations that will head to foster families in Lapeer, Genesee and Wayne counties.

LAPEER COUNTY — When it comes to the Justice For Lily’s Angel Lily Christmas, foster parents don’t need to worry about gifts, wrapping paper, pillows or blankets — all they need to supply is a little Santa.

The Lapeer-based charitable organization will be providing Christmas gifts to 272 foster children from Lapeer, Genesee and Wayne counties, thanks entirely to the support they receive from generous donors throughout not only the region and state, but throughout the world. Justice For Lily receives donations from Germany, France and Australia in addition to the hundreds of people who support the yearly charitable program closer to home.

Each of the 272 children are sponsored by an individual or business at a $100 minimum, but often the sponsors go above and beyond that price point, said Justice for Lily volunteer Jennifer Bentz. Bentz is one of the handful of “diehard” volunteers that have been working around the clock at the group’s gift sorting and staging area, this year generously donated by ServPro of Lapeer. Other businesses get into the spirit of giving as well, and according to Lauren Furneaux-Bass, founder of Justice For Lily, donations from businesses like Die-Tech ($1,500) and organizations like the Imlay City Eagles ($4,300) make a huge difference for dozens of foster children. “They’ve donated above and beyond,” she said. “It’s amazing what people are doing.”

Justice For Lily volunteer Jennifer Bentz sorts through donations in one of the group’s several areas for gifts that will be heading to foster children in the region.

Justice For Lily volunteer Jennifer Bentz sorts through donations in one of the group’s several areas for gifts that will be heading to foster children in the region.

The large space is stacked to the ceiling with black bags, and each bag contains a pre-packaged Christmas for one of the 272 foster children, including wrapping paper and supplies for the foster parents. Bentz, along with a few other volunteers and Furneaux-Bass, have been putting in 12-hour days for nearly a month to ensure that each of the kids get as much on their wishlist as possible, which requires hours of collecting, sorting, inventory. According to manager at ServPro of Lapeer Brienne Hall, the choice to offer their space to Justice For Lily wasn’t really a choice at all. “We’ve got the space and we don’t use it, so why not, it’s awesome,” she said. Hall said she often sees on the facilities surveillance cameras the volunteers at all hours hard at work sorting and packaging gifts. “They’re here late into the night, and we figured that if we’ve got the space, why wouldn’t we do it?”

Bentz said that every once and awhile they’ll allow themselves to reflect on the sheer volume of donations that have poured in from around the world. “This room fills up fast, and we’ll say ‘oh my, look at all this stuff,’” she said. “We’re getting excited.” And the gifts aren’t token items, either. Bentz said one of the most popular requests have been tablets, and dozens of the gadgets have been purchased for the foster kids. “I wish I could see their faces on Christmas morning,” said Furneaux-Bass.

On top of everything else, Justice For Lily themselves provide duffel bags, pillows and blankets for the kids, depending on their age. According to Furneaux-Bass, what may seem like a simple gift that many might take for granted is actually an invaluable gesture for kids in the foster system. “A lot of the time when these kids are moving from place to place all their belongings are in a big garbage bag, and we don’t want them to feel like they’re garbage,” she said. “So a duffel bag for their things, or a blanket for safety can mean a lot.”

This week, all the gift packages for foster kids in Genesee County will be delivered via rented U-Haul, and Wayne County packages will head out on Monday. On Sunday, Dec. 16, Lapeer County foster families can receive their gifts at a public “Breakfast With Santa,” held at the Metamora Lions Club from 9 a.m. to noon. The event offers families an opportunity to enjoy a pancake breakfast while children get their photo taken with Santa while also serving as an opportunity for Lapeer County-based foster families to pick up their gifts.

After Monday, the job will be done, but it won’t be long before it all starts over again for the next year. “After it’s done, I’ll start crying because I haven’t done anything for my own Christmas,” said Furneaux-Bass. “We’ll have a meeting to go over what worked this year, what didn’t, and in early September we’ll start planning for next year.”

Furneaux-Bass said none of this would be possible without without her volunteers, including the five that put in dozens of hours each week, accompanied by “10 to 15” more that “come and go when they can.” Furneaux-Bass stressed that while the Angel Lily Christmas is the big yearly event the organization holds in support of foster families, their assistance to kids in the foster system isn’t relegated to just December. “We help throughout the year too, if there’s a foster parent that needs something,” she said.

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