Doylestown Nonprofit Providing Random Acts of Christmas

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A Doylestown nonprofit known as Between Friends Outreach is working to get Christmas presents in the hands of financially strapped families this holiday season.

For the past five years, the group's Random Acts of Kindness program has sponsored Christmas gifts for children whose families are facing financial hardship. In 2019, the organization served 9,000 families in Bucks County, and the demand has risen in 2020, with 13,000 families submitting applications, Community Relations Director Beth Guerra said.

The coronavirus pandemic has put an added financial strain on struggling families this year, which is one of the reasons they decided to open up the program to the general public, Guerra said, and that led to a record number of submissions.

The program started five years ago and has since grown into a full-scale operation.

"We started doing this just out of our homes, but it's gotten so big that we've needed warehouse space," Guerra said.

The group recently announced that it will be able to sponsor all of its participants this year thanks to generous support from the community.

This story is part of Patch's Headlining Hope series, which profiles local nonprofits and charitable organizations in need of volunteers and resources. If you know about a local organization that should be profiled, email peter.blanchard@patch.com.