HERMISTON — This Christmas season, the need is great but so is the giving, according to Kris Dammeyer.

For the past six years the nonprofit she started, Made to Thrive, has handed out Christmas gifts, coats, blankets and other necessities to students the organization serves. This year, 80 shoppers bought gifts for 250 students.

“We were not sure how this year would go, but we were completely surprised by the turnout,” she said.

In a usual year, Made to Thrive helps students from low-income families be able to participate in extracurricular activities. Volunteers pay participation fees, purchase needed equipment, give rides to practices and show up to games and performances to cheer students on. They also provide mentorship and tutoring, and do what they can to help parents and guardians support their student.

In a year when school has been online and many sports and clubs have not been able to go on as planned, Made to Thrive has continued to tutor and mentor students, and has adapted to serving them in other ways.

“We’ve paid for a lot of internet,” Dammeyer said.

On Friday, Dec. 18, families came to pick up gifts that had been donated for their children, along with blankets and other items. Dammeyer said since Hermiston Police Department’s Christmas Express program focuses on gifts for children under age 12, Made to Thrive focused on gifts for children 12 and older. They reached out to the families selected before Thanksgiving, letting them know they would help out with Christmas gifts and asking them what things their children enjoy.

“We give (volunteer shoppers) a first name, age, sizes, things they’re interested in, so it’s completely personal to them,” Dammeyer said.

She said this year Made to Thrive has had many new families referred to them who had not previously needed such services but had experienced layoffs due to the pandemic. One mother she spoke to said she had no money to spare for gifts at all — whatever they got from Made to Thrive would be her children’s entire Christmas.

Usually, Dammeyer and other volunteers deliver the gifts, but she said the program had grown too big this year to manage deliveries. So, she said Carolleen Lovell, a CPA who is in the process of selling her former offices, volunteered to let them use the building as a staging area where families could come in a few at a time over two days and pick up their gifts and collect other donations, such as hygiene items, if needed.

She said families who had picked up gifts so far were often in tears at the generosity. She said for volunteers who dropped off a few toys or other donations and told her, “I’m sorry it isn’t much,” she wants them to know that their efforts have truly made a difference.

“When families come in and the parents are crying and the kids are crying, we’re giving them hope. And hope is so important right now,” she said.

For more details about Made to Thrive, visit madetothrive.org.