Project Angels Bearing Gifts brings happiness to individuals with developmental disabilities who have no one to remember them by providing gifts on birthdays and holidays. We foster compassion within the community towards those with developmental disabilities by education on our recipient's disabilities and volunteer activities.

Description:
Project Angels Bearing Gifts serves individuals with developmental disabilities. A developmental disability includes individuals with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and other significant developmental challenges. Because these individuals need help and support, most adults with developmental disabilities live in group homes. A smaller portion live in an apartment or home and their families or professionals check on them regularly. Many children and adults with developmental disabilities have lost their families and do not have anyone. These individuals feel a profound sense of grief over their loss, which is heightened during all holidays, including birthdays

History:
The project started when Evelynn Smith-Herman, a parent of a child with a developmental disability, was shopping during Christmas 2001. At that time, Evelynn and her daughter shopped for 13 individuals with special needs, wrapped the gifts, and delivered them to the individuals anonymously. She did the same thing next year. Evelynn was so inspired that in 2003, she recruited many of her friends and interested individuals through a letter to help out, and 37 "special" individuals were able to receive gifts on Christmas and Chanukah. Evelynn had a nagging feeling that these 37 people were just a fraction of this population that needed to be remembered, and so, she created Project - Angels Bearing Gifts, a non-profit Corporation. Last year (2004) she expanded to include other holidays such as Valentine's Day and is starting a corporate donation campaign. Names are being given to Project –Angels Bearing Gifts on an ongoing basis, and we know there must be many more yet to be identified. Please open your hearts and volunteer or give a donation to this organization. This is a Santa Barbara-based project, but the goal is for it to grow to many communities nationwide. Project Angels Bearing Gifts now serves 107 individuals from Carpinteria to Atascadero, including the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Maria, Guadalupe, San Luis Obispo, and Morro Bay.

Contact person: Evelyn Smith, Founder, (email)
Office fax number: (805) 969-4203

Address:

P O Box 50418 Santa Barbara, CA 93150