Holiday Cheer at the YMCA

A season of outreach to the community which provides an opportunity for in-kind donors to collect items for local families. Our two collections focus on:

• Shopping bags of nourishing, shelf-stable food
• New gift items for children that promote warmth, movement, creativity, and family time

Based on the high demand of the program, we have made some changes to serve more families in our community during the holiday season. 

Children’s Gifts Update: 
In place of personalized gift wish items, families will come to the Y to go through our “holiday shop” to pick out new gifts for each child, along with a $25 retail gift card for their family. 

Food Bag Update: 
Each household will receive a Meal Kit: a bag of shelf stable food items to use during the celebrations of the season, along with a $25 grocery card. 

Children’s Coats Update: 
Due to a limited supply of available new coats through our partners, we cannot take specific orders this year. New children’s coats will be available as first come, first serve this fall at our branch locations. We will share the date and time as soon as we can. Donations of new coats, hats, and gloves are welcome now through December 1st.

All are welcome to apply to receive the food bag and gift items. A formal application is required. The gift portion of the program is limited to children in the household; however, those families without children can apply for a Meal Kit.

Submit one Holiday Cheer Application for your household via the online form. 

You will share your contact information, the number of children in your household that you will be shopping for, and the branch location where you will pick up items. The form will be open through October 10,  2025. 

This year, items will be available during a one-day distribution event at the branches on Thursday, December 4th. Event distribution will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Participants will receive a time confirmation with final event details. Childcare will be available. Note: this is not a public distribution event. We will be working with the sponsors to collect items for the families who have applied for the 2025 Holiday Cheer program.

Last year, we supported 908 households and 2,237 children across the association. We hope to provide support to 1,000 households and 2,500 children this year. The program relies on community sponsors and volunteers in order to serve the most amount of families in the Chester County Community.

Fill out the Holiday Cheer Pledge Form to receive direct notifications on collection drive details. Our sponsors can support one or all of the collections: food bag, retail gift cards, or holiday shop kits). Donations are due back to the branch by December 1, 2025. During our distribution event, families will pick up a food bag, a retail gift card, and “shop” the four sections of gift items for each of their children. Pending sponsorship, families will be able to select four items for each child. 

Our goal is to provide for each household: 

1.  One complete Meal Kit, which includes (suggested $50 donation value): 

MEAL KIT (9 items)

• 1 $25 Grocery Gift Card
• 2 cans of Vegetables
• 2 boxes of Starch (Potatoes, Rice, or Pasta)
• 2 cans of Beans (Pinto, Black, or Kidney)
• 1 box of Dessert of Bread Mix (i.e. Brownie Mix, Cookie Mix) 
• 1 box of Cereal or Breakfast Bars 

2.  One $25 retail gift card 

3.  And for each child in the program, one complete Holiday Shop It (1 item from each category (suggested $50-$75 total donation value): Our only guidelines: no electronics. No bikes or oversized items (so our families can safely and discretely take the items home without their kids seeing). Please keep gifts gender neutral when possible so families can have a wide variety of choices when they come to shop. 

HOLIDAY SHOP KIT (4 items)

• 1 gift for warmth (new coat, hat, gloves, socks, throw blanket)
• 1 gift for movement (new skip-it, basketball, kickball, etc.)
• 1 gift for creativity (new craft kit, markers, beads, etc.)
• 1 gift for family time (board game, puzzle, Legos, blocks, etc.)

Can't narrow down your gift ideas? For your kit, we suggest that you consider selecting four different gift items that are geared towards four different age groups:

1. Infant/toddler
2. PreK/young elementary
3. Older elementary
4. Middle school/high school