In a month-long December donation drive, St. Francis Catholic High School collected and donated over 400 gifts to Operation Cratchit, an annual Christmas basket giving program for underserved communities in Sacramento.

As part of St. Francis’ strong tradition of service, the holiday season is always a time of giving to those in need. Through Stanford Settlement, an organization partnered with St. Francis, students can directly serve the community around them.

Operation Cratchit: A Competition for Community

Stanford Settlement is a non-profit social services agency located in Sacramento, starting as “a residential program for teens who were unable to live in their own homes”, according to the organization’s website. 

Julie Rhoten, the Director of Stanford Settlement, says, “We were founded in 1936 by the Sisters of Social Service. Settlement houses are about helping people make improvements to their own lives, but also organizing to make improvements to their community… the communities that we’ve always served are under-resourced.”

Now expanded to children’s and teen’s afterschool programs, senior programs, and emergency assistance, Stanford Settlement is a cornerstone of the Sacramento community, serving four zip codes around the agency.

Operation Cratchit is one of these very programs. Christian Service Leader and St. Francis senior Mia Hill, who is one of eight Christian Student Leaders who facilitated the program at the school said, “Operation Cratchit was a service project where [we] asked for donations of toys above 15 dollars for kids, a variety of ages.”

Throughout the entirety of December, students were encouraged to donate various items, such as non-perishable food and new, unwrapped toys for teens and children. 

 “To get people to donate more to our cause was the main challenge of the CSLs. [While we were planning,] we decided to have a race between the classes,” Hill said.

She also said that “. . . it was a tricky task . . . finding a good balance between friendly competition and honoring the main goal of gifting to others. Luckily, we were able to find some sort of middle ground.”

This middle ground was easily achieved. After three weeks of donations, the senior class ended up winning the “race,” donating over 100 gifts to Stanford Settlement. 

But seniors weren’t the only class who rose to the challenge. Overall, the school “. . . [collected] about 400 toys, which is a great difference from last year”, said Lillian Vicio, another senior and Christian Service Leader on campus. 

Hill said, “Our school was so generous! We were able to not just meet our goal but we were able to pass our goal by 30 gifts.”

Paying It Forward

The entire process begins in October with advertisements in the communities, according to Rhoten. “Families come in ahead of time to sign up for a Christmas basket and we give them an appointment time to return closer to the holidays.” 

The only requirements to receive a basket? Bring documents to verify who lives in their place of residence and live in any of the following zip codes: 95835, 95838, 95834, 95833, or 95815. 

Similar to the overall mission of Stanford Settlement, Operation Cratchit aims to serve under resourced communities. “The only requirement is [that the families] have to live in one of those four zip codes [that we serve], and when they sign up, that’s our promise to them, that we will help them at the holidays”, says Rhoten. 

After the donations have been delivered to Stanford Settlement, they are organized by age group and are set up in a toy shop. “Parents that participated… were given the opportunity to shop for gifts for their children”, said Hill. 

Each parent is able to select one toy for each child in the family that is under 15 years old. But toys aren’t the only gift that families receive from Operation Cratchit. 

“Every family gets a box of non-perishable food items, depending on their household size…and then they get a small gift card to purchase their fresh holiday meal items at the grocery store down the street”, says Rhoten. 

Rhoten also notes the importance of cultural sensitivity when distributing food. “Not everybody wants to have turkey… for Christmas, so we try to be culturally responsive and [make] sure that people have choices”. 

This rings true for the communities that Operation Cratchit serves. “I would say about 50% are Hispanic, and then maybe another 30% are African American . . . We have some Ukrainian families in the neighborhood. We have a few Afghani families and we have some Native Americans . . . so we’re very culturally diverse as a community,” said Rhoten. 

The baskets are only the beginning. When participants come to Stanford Settlement, they’re more open to coming back for other programs, Rhoten said. 

 “The Christmas basket is one moment in time that we’re helping this family, but we have other things that we do here, and so when we meet people to sign them up, we find out other challenges they might be having.”

“Somebody’s looking for an after school program for their kids. We [learn that] somebody’s taking care of their elderly mother. So it’s not just about the Christmas basket. . . but it’s about the other ways we can help the family”, said Rhoten.

At Stanford Settlement, generosity is not limited to the Christmas season, especially in trying times. 

“It’s a difficult time in our world right now, and it’s hard for the people that we serve, but. . . I think that we just have to [be] grateful for what [we] have, but also [be] able to invite other people to find their way.”

Anyone can volunteer, inviting others to find their way and contributing to the year-long giving spirit at Stanford Settlement. 

“Students from St. Francis can volunteer there almost every Friday. I’ve only visited them once with the [Christian Service Leaders]. . .  but I’ll still go there even after I graduate. There’s so many amazing people there”, says Vicio. 

Rhoten says it’s all about paying it forward.

“Some of the people [who] donate now. . . were receiving a Christmas basket because they were in need [a few years ago]. That’s how you know it was all worth it, because things get better for people and so it just keeps going. And so we just keep paying it forward.”