The texts and WhatsApp messages started coming in September, and they have grown more frequent and more desperate.
Most have been written in Spanish, and all have come from parents unsure of where else to turn for help.
“This Christmas will you give away toys or clothes for the children?” reads one message.
Another: “I have no way of giving my children a present for Christmas. And we don’t know what to do.”
And another: “I do not have a gift for my baby.”
Denise Woods shared those and other messages with me on a recent afternoon. She has received about 20 messages and phone calls from one mother alone, asking if there was any way someone could help her get a doll and a toy kitchen for her daughter.
“You know that experience where your kid is laser-focused on something?” Woods said, explaining why that mom wants so badly to fulfill her daughter’s wishes and why Woods has been asking around for a used doll and toy kitchen. “The people who text me are just so worried about not having gifts for their kids.”
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While many groups collect toys for low-income families at this time of year, Food Justice DMV, a volunteer collective that Woods founded, serves a population that often falls beyond the reach of other organized efforts. The volunteers work with migrant families in the Washington region, a population that has understandably shown a hesitancy to reach out to organizations for help. Among their fears: They might be required to fill out paperwork in a language they don’t read. They might be asked to present documents they don’t have. They might find their families split up if someone decides to report them to immigration authorities.
Food Justice DMV grew out of the pandemic to make sure those families wouldn’t go hungry at a time when many were being pushed out of the workforce and left without federal assistance. When volunteers started collecting food to distribute, they expected to serve 200 families. But as word spread that help was available, they started hearing from more people. Volunteers now serve more than 8,000 families, including migrants who were bused to D.C. from Texas and Arizona as part of a political stunt by the governors in those states.
During most of the year, the work of Food Justice DMV involves gathering rice, beans and other food items to give to families.
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But during this time of year, volunteers also try to collect enough used toys to distribute to the children in those families. They ask for “dignity-standard, secondhand goods” to minimize waste and because in an area as wealthy as Washington, they know many families have toys sitting in playrooms and attics that their children have outgrown.
“It’s a wealth transfer, from people who have more than enough to people who have literally nothing,” Woods said. “Last year, we gave a boy a stuffed animal, and he burst into tears. He didn’t think anyone was going to give him anything for Christmas.”
She recalled crying when she saw a photo taken of the boy. She shared it with me. In it, his eyes are closed tight as he clutches a stuffed dog that has a tag hanging from its ear. It reads, “Chance” and “PetSmart,” offering the animal’s name and indicating it was sold at a pet store.
That year, volunteers collected plenty of toys to hand out to families. This year, they are worried they won’t have enough.
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“In comparison to last year, it’s a dribble,” Woods said. “Last year, it was a flood.”
Woods described a dire situation in an email she recently sent to supporters and volunteers.
“This is our third annual Santa con Sabor and while previous years we had to get a pickup truck and have Santa Cecilia, one of our powerhouse Latina leaders, pick up extra gifts, this year we are sending out an SOS,” she wrote in that email. The phrase “we are sending out an SOS” appeared in bold. “Not only are donations for our Latin menu food way down, but so are gifts.”
Last year, volunteers provided a holiday package of food to each family that included chicken. This year, they don’t have enough to buy every family masa, a staple in many Latino households.
“It pains me that people who have lost all coming here, may not celebrate Navidad the way they deserve and the way we want: a warm plate of food from home … and a side of gifts,” Woods wrote. “I am not sure where the Christmas spirit is, but we forge ahead and hope that we will receive more dinero for food and regalos so that Brown and Black Latino/a/e families have a Navidad full of love, welcome and joy!”
The group is collecting used toys at locations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Areas have been designated for 24/7 drop-offs outside of Cedar Lane Church in Bethesda, Md., and Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington, Va. They are also being collected inside, during certain hours, at the Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Md., and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, Va. In D.C., the restaurant Atxondo is collecting them inside on the days it’s open.
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On Saturday, volunteers with Food Justice DMV plan to place all the toys (and items for adults) on tables inside a Virginia church and let parents choose what they want. Then, if any toys are left over or collected in the days that follow, they will be given to community leaders to distribute to families in their buildings, schools and churches. That way they will reach families who couldn’t make it on Saturday.
Already, Woods and other volunteers know some families won’t be able to make it to the Saturday event.
“I don’t drive,” reads one message received from a parent. “I can’t go to there, and I don’t have money to buy gifts for the children.”
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