SOLON, Ohio — Linda Hric is prepping for the holiday season, and as a mom of three, she said getting gifts under the tree can be a challenge.

What You Need To Know

  • The donation drive supports children and teens under the custody of the Cuyahoga County Division of Children & Family Services

  • Linda Hric, a foster mom with three kids, said the program is about making sure each child experiences the holiday joy

“So, our family consists of my husband and myself, our biological son, who's 13. We have a fostered child that we fostered, and we adopted through Cuyahoga County," she said.

Hric and her husband have been foster parents for seven years living in Solon, and most recently, they’ve added a 2-year-old child in foster care to the bunch. 

This year, her family is participating in Hope for the Holiday, an annual gift program for children and teens in foster care organized by Cuyahoga County. With more than 3,000 kids in custody of the county’s Division of Children & Family Services, the donation drive aims to give each child a present to unwrap for the holidays. 

Hric said her family has participated in the program in previous years, and she is grateful for the county’s support, receiving donated items for her foster children and biological child.

“Money gets tight around the holidays, and for these kids and especially for the foster children, they get to have a celebration of Christmas above and beyond what we could give them,” she said.

Kristin Gardner, outreach coordinator for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, said it's about making the kids feel valued and special.

“Something we always need more of our African American dolls that can show representation and also just be something where the little girl has [something] that looks just like her,” Gardner said.

Gardner said the community can support foster children through various methods, including purchasing items from their online registry, donating items from their favorite retailer or being part of a larger donor group like a church or a school.

“Do more of like a giving tree where they would go and pick a kid's name and they say, ‘OK, I've got Johnny and he's 10, and this is what he wants for the holiday so I am going to go out and buy that,’” she said.

Hric said the program has inspired her to help organize a donation drive next month, gifting bikes to children in foster care in northeast Ohio.

“After we have them built, then, the workers will come by and pick up the bikes and give them to the foster kids,” she said.

She said it's about making sure all kids wake up feeling the excitement of unwrapping holiday joy.

“A lot of kids in foster care don't have that, and they're moved from home to home or not with relatives,” Hric said. “Or maybe they never even had a real Christmas, as we would consider real Christmas, so this gives them an extra special joy and comfort.”