Chicago Housing Authority brings holiday smiles to thousands of families throughout city, delivering over 2,000 gifts, 19,000 care packages

Press contacts:
Office of Communications – Chicago Housing Authority
Matthew Aguilar: (312) 935-2646; (312) 523-7067; maguilar@thecha.org

CHICAGO (Dec. 24, 2020): Over the last several weeks, the Chicago Housing Authority helped to make a happier holiday season for thousands of its families, thanks to its sponsors and employees.

“We would like to thank our partners, who helped deliver more than 2,000 gifts to CHA children, and over 19,000 care packages to CHA seniors and families,” said CHA CEO Tracey Scott. “These events put smiles on faces and remind us of the true meaning of the season.”

Among the holiday events:

Santa For a Day: For the third consecutive year, Santa for a Day – a website that connects retailers with donors to grant children Christmas gifts – delivered gifts to CHA children who wrote letters to Santa Claus. About 1,400 gifts were delivered to nine CHA locations around Chicago.

Christmas in the Wards: The Christmas in the Wards organization provided 20 CHA families from the South and West sides with $250 gifts cards to Target or Walmart. Families from Cabrini and Dearborn were also selected to receive laptops and other gifts in a Soldier Field drive thru event.

Soul Children of Chicago: Soul Children of Chicago gave more than 400 toys, food boxes, hot cider and cocoa to CHA families in a drive-thru event in the XS Tennis parking lot.

Chicago Bulls Giveaway: The Chicago Bulls delivered 275 toys to CHA children at City Gardens, Jackson Square, West End and Horner Annex.

Resident Care Package Initiative: CHA employees assembled and distributed care packages to over 19,000 CHA households. The care packages, purchased with CARES Act funds, included hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, Lysol, and an antibacterial cleaner.