Instead of having each group home throw a Christmas party as usual, Optimist decided to have the homes throw parties scattered throughout the year for all the club memebers and donors. I tried telling them that this was a bad idea. The club members really look forward to the Christmas party we have plus it's about the only way any of the kids get Christmas presents.
The decision was made in March and so our house was the first to go. We used it as a chance to celebrate the beginning of summer as well as two of our boys graduating from high school and the program. We did a Hawaiian theme and put a ton of work into it. I had the backyard decorated with all kinds of tiki things and mini palm trees that we brought in. The inside of the house had beach and tropical fish backgrounds all over. I made up cds for each area to match music to the decor.
Usually our Christmas parties bring in about 60 people. Most people don't bother to rsvp so we just buy food based on the last year. Our rsvp list grew quite a bit in the last couple of days so we were afraid we would run out of food.
After much work, we got the boys to wear Hawaiian shirts making sure none of them had their gang colors anywhere on them (including the leis we passed out). The house was decorated, and we had a ton of ribs, teriyaki chicken, salads, appetizers and desserts. As soon as 1pm hit, the first two club members and two of the neighbors came over.
Unfortunately that was about it. Only eight people actually showed up. No one from the rsvp list came. None of the kids families came except for one mother at the very end. I felt really bad for the kids...they were disappointed and took it as a rejection. It's still tough for me to see how little these families care about their own sons even though it happens all the time. At least we got lots of good food to eat for the next week or so even after all the staff took what they wanted.
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