Christmas Traditions For Kids Given To Foster Children by Cherish The Children

CLEARWATER, FL, December 17, 2010 (Press-News.org) Christmas traditions for kids (http://www.cherishthechildren.org) presented to Pinellas County foster children by Cherish The Children in their 22nd annual holiday event on December 4th. 280 of Pinellas County's Foster Children plus their foster parents attended the Christmas celebration held in the Clearwater Academy International gymnasium.

While the children ate snacks and played on Clearwater Academy's swing set and jungle gym the foster parents picked up the gifts to be wrapped and placed under their Christmas trees - including stuffed animals from Build-A-Bear, backpacks with wheels, videos, sunglasses and books.

Then Santa arrived and one little boy's meeting with Santa caught event organizer Marsha Friedman's attention right away, "His eyes were hardly higher than the registration table. He looked across the room and spotted Santa and his eyes got very big. He ran over joyously yelling for Santa and planted himself on Santa's lap - it was like he could hardly believe his luck that Santa would be there for him."

"The foster children in our country have typically experienced more trauma in their short lives than most adults, and it's for this reason that our Cherish the Children Foundation and all its volunteers are thankful for the opportunity to give these children the experience of Christmas that every child deserves," says Friedman.

The event also honored and thanked foster parents for the work they do with a large sheet cake donated by the Church of Scientology and 1,000 flowers donated by Russ Phillip of Russ Wholesale Flowers out of Elmhurst Illinois thanking them for their dedication.

Friedman also wanted to thank the sponsors of the event - the Cherish the Children Foundation, the Church of Scientology, Clearwater Academy and PostcardMania, concluding, "Humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard once wrote: 'When children become unimportant to a society, that society has forfeited its future."

Christmas traditions for kids (http://www.cherishthechildren.org/about.html) by Cherish the Children began in 1989 as a way to give back to the Pinellas County community with an emphasis on helping local foster children. This group of dedicated volunteers evolved into the Cherish the Children Foundation, established as a 501(C) (3) Florida Corporation in 1995. Since that time the number of volunteers has grown as well as the number of projects being undertaken by the Foundation—all in the interest of forwarding our purpose to help needy children. Cherish the Children Foundation is listed on the IRS website as a charitable organization and, as such, all donations to the Foundation are tax deductible. To find out how you can assist Cherish the Children for next year's event, please go to http://www.cherishthechildren.org.