PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Santa's elves — or more like angels — are making one last push to deliver much-needed necessities this upcoming holiday season to children who are scraping by.
After our original story aired in September, the non-profit Back to Basics said it received nearly 200 requests to help children in our community.
The group is coming up on a Thanksgiving deadline and is looking for organizations or individuals that want to find a charitable cause this holiday season.
Back-to-Basics was started by Beverly Perham in 1984. Perham used $500 of her own money to help 30 kids from Haiti who had just arrived in Palm Beach County by boat around Christmas. They came with absolutely nothing.
"We have to care about our neighbors. We have to care that they don't have shoes to wear to school. They don't have underwear," Perham said.
Today, Back to Basics aims to help nearly 10,000 children in Palm Beach County elementary schools.
"And we aren't hitting them all. We're hitting maybe 40% of the ones in the elementary schools that we target. So there's so many more than that," said Kelle Enrique, a volunteer.
If you sign up on Back to Basics' website, they will send you information on a child or children to shop for. The information will include the gender of the child and sizing.
You are asked to buy a pair of shoes that fit, socks, underwear and an age-appropriate toy. Package the items in a gift bag and drop off at the organizations warehouse before Thanksgiving so they can distribute to children before winter break.
You can sign up by clicking here.
The nonprofit's signature mission is its school uniform program, providing nearly 20,000 new school uniforms to children in need at the start of the school year.
