Staff members from the Joliet Job Corps Center played the part of elves for the Share Drive, a collection of gifts for a needy family.

The holidays are for giving.

And the staff members at the Joliet Job Corps Center believe in giving back.

This year, Social Development Director Alicia Grangent organized the second Share Drive event, a Center-wide collection of gifts for a local family in need of a Christmas miracle. To get the project started, Ms. Grangent contacted Kay Bolden, Executive Director of Joliet’s Warren-Sharpe Community Center, and asked to be included in its holiday programs.

Ms. Grangent then circulated information about the family around the Center, seeking the assistance of any staff who wanted to do-nate items.

The event is something like the “giving trees” found at local shopping malls. The Center’s staff chose members of the family to adopt and then purchased presents for them. The gifts were brought to Santa’s Workshop, perhaps better known on Center as the Social Development Department, where they were wrapped.

On Dec. 18, the family stopped by the Center to meet staff and pick up the gifts. The children couldn’t believe that there were so many presents just for them. And their mother was thankful for a little help around the holidays.