Christmas Bureau

Giving help and hope during the Holiday Season

2024 Christmas Bureau

Sign-ups for our 2024 Christmas Bureau have closed.

If you want to get involved in helping the Christmas Bureau please click here:

What is the Interfaith Christmas Bureau?

The Christmas Bureau is made up of three parts:

  1. Holiday Assistance Program. Individual sponsors or a group of sponsors purchase new clothing and toys for a child from a family facing hardship. For many of our registered children, the gifts they receive through the Christmas Bureau Program will be the only ones they open on Christmas morning. Susquehanna County residents join together to make the Christmas Bureau possible by giving their time and resources. A lot of work goes into organizing and sorting the gifts and it would not be possible without the communities help. The Kiwanis Club, Coterra Energy, and numerous other community organizations and members do a wonderful job of collecting toys and clothing for this program.​

  2. The Food Bag. Christmas can be more stressful than joyful when the budget is tight. Interfaith provides families, seniors, and singles with a bag of food. The hope is that by providing all of the fixings for their holiday meal, including a nice ham, we will help ease their burden and make the holiday brighter.

  3. Adopt a Family. When a family is experiencing an especially difficult time, businesses, churches and individuals offer to buy everyone in the family gifts. As part of the program, those who adopt are given an extensive list of items that each member of the family would like. Often, this is the only time that mom and dad receive a gift for themselves. This is a wonderful opportunity to share hope and help for the entire family.

Christmas Bureau Impact

“The hope that they gave to my family was undeniable. I was diagnosed October 30th, so with Christmas around the corner and three young children, I’m thinking “I can get them a matchbox car,” but Christmas was the furthest thing from my mind. On Christmas morning, my children woke up and the people from Interfaith delivered a Christmas dinner and gifts beyond.”

“Without Interfaith’s Christmas Bureau we would've had 3 sad kids on Christmas morning. My husband and I work so hard to just keep our needs met, so anything extra is really hard for us to come up with. This year I ended up missing work alot right before Xmas because of sickness, so that really put a hit on my income. So with our struggles this year we were very blessed to receive everyone's help 🙏 ❤️🙏.”

“I volunteered when I could. At Christmas they asked me to sort the Christmas toys that they had. I couldn’t believe the goodness of these people that donated these toys. It took me all day and part of the next.”

“It helped so much, without this program our 4 boys would not have had a Christmas this year. We wouldn't have had a Christmas dinner or presents. My family and I are so grateful for this program. We hope to give back one day when we can afford to.”