How to Get Started

We ask you commit to spending $75 per child you commit to helping. For instance, if you decide to sponsor two children, you are committing to spending $150 on new items for those two children. It’s best to decide on your budget in advance. Knowing this will help you decide how many children you can help. You may certainly spend more than this amount, however we discourage you from spending less.

Call our office at 262.771.0909 or email info@christmasclearingcouncil.org and we will be more than happy to match you with more children before the sponsorship deadline. Please do not fill out another sponsorship application.

The sponsorship program is designed to be a very personal giving experience. Part of the joy is delivering the gifts in person to your sponsored family. If this isn’t something you are comfortable doing, consider donating toys or gift cards at one of our toy collection sites or making a financial gift to CCC.

If a family qualifies for our services, CCC is committing that these children will all have gifts to open on Christmas. We do our very best to get all the children in our program sponsored, but we have never been able to fully reach that goal. Parents/guardians of children ages birth-11 who are not sponsored are invited to choose gifts for their children at Toy Shop. Toy Shop is stocked with donated new toys and books, most of which are appropriate for children ages birth-11. Few items donated to Toy Shop are appropriate for teens. Our gift card program provides $100 in gift cards to each child ages 12-18 who is not sponsored.

Each child ages 12-18 who isn’t sponsored will receive $100 in gift cards. Often teens will request gift cards from several stores on their wish lists. CCC does its best to honor their requests and might provide gift cards of $25 each to four stores. Additionally, increments of $25 allow us to easily allot $100 per teen.

We highly encourage you to deliver gifts to the family by Dec. 16, 2025. There are several reasons for this. Often, parents chose to wrap the items themselves or have you deliver when the children are not present (perhaps during the school day). This date allows time to schedule your delivery before children are out of school for winter break. Additionally, should your sponsorship committment fall through for any reason, we still have time to invite this family to Toy Shop on Dec. 20 to ensure they receive gifts. If any questions arise about your sponsorship or delivery, office staff is happy to help you prior to the office closing on Dec. 22 at noon. Bringing these questions to our attention sooner than later allow staff the time necessary to answer questions or troubleshoot issues. Staff will not be able to resolve issues after the office closes for the season, which includes Christmas Eve and Day.

We understand circumstances sometimes arise where you are unable to fulfill your sponsorship. Contact our office immediately at 262.771.0909 to let us know you are unable to fulfill your sponsorship and we will be happy to find another sponsor for your family. It is heartbreaking when we learn a sponsor couldn’t follow through and did not contact us, leaving the family without gifts on Christmas. We very much appreciate your timely communication.

It is not uncommon to play phone tag with your sponsored family. If you have tried calling and have left a message, please try texting. If an email is provided by the family, we will pass that along to you as well. Often, even if phone services are shut off or minutes are used up for the month, a parent can still receive text messages or check an email. If, after several attempts of calling, texting and emailing, you still can’t get in touch with your family, please call our office at 262.771.0909 and we will be happy to assist you.

Families who apply to our program must meet residency, income and guardianship requirements. We rely heavily on more than 50 local agencies to help us confirm the information on a client’s application prior to them being accepted into our program. If we are made aware of any abuses to our program, despite our thorough qualifying process, that client will no longer be eligible for our program in future years.

Understand that poverty doesn’t always look like what you think it does. A two-income household might have been financially sound last year, but crippling medical bills or the loss of one or both incomes might have the family barely holding on to their house and vehicle, with little left over for food or Christmas gifts. A family might be living with a friend or family member who is not in need. If a client owns an expensive item, they might not have purchased it themselves. Sometimes grandparents buy phones or video game systems for their grandchildren. Parents meeting our income guidelines might be able to feed their children only with help from a food pantry and might have found winter clothing for their children at St. Vincent DePaul or the Waukesha Service Club’s thrift shop. When a family asks for only toys, they are asking because they don’t have any funds left to provide gifts for their children.

Giving is far easier than receiving. Many families are comfortable showing their gratitude and might acknowledge you with kind words, a card or even a hug. There are some who have a difficult time accepting this kind of generosity. It’s not that they aren’t appreciative; they just might feel embarrassed or unable to express words of thanks in that moment, especially if they are new to our program. We assure you - your kindness was appreciated.