Christmas can be the cruelest season for foster children.
They’re often forgotten at the best of times — forsaken by their parents (who usually are methamphetamine addicts), sometimes placed far from what they called home, often the objects of an unspoken stigma that they just don’t belong anywhere or to anyone.
Their loneliness can echo from the carols of the season, songs that seem written for everybody but them.
However, they have a chance to share in Christmas spirit through the Happy Holidays for Foster Children program.
Colleen Robinson will try to grant at least one of three wishes for each of the 260 foster children in Clallam and Jefferson counties. Robinson is holiday programs coordinator for the Department of Social and Health Services for Clallam and Jefferson counties as well as the region’s foster parents recruiter.
That’s where KONP-AM radio and Clallam County Commissioners Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman come in.
The radio station will hold a week-long telethon to provide presents for North Olympic Peninsula foster children who still need sponsors.
Tharinger and Chapman will pitch for donations, Tharinger from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. today, Chapman during the same hour Tuesday.
“This time of year, it may be difficult for foster parents to come up with extra Christmas gifts,” Chapman said Sunday. Chapman’s family will sponsor a female foster child in the fourth annual Holiday Happiness Telethon.
People who call KONP — 360-457-1450 — will receive a foster child’s first name, age and gender. They also will learn the child’s favorite activities, the books he or she loves best, and “something that people like about them,” Robinson said Sunday.
