Adopt-A-Family makes Christmas bright
On Thursday, the single mother and her kids expect to be evicted from their three-bedroom rental home, located in the Briarchase subdivision south of Lake Saint Louis. Their water was shut off three weeks ago. They would have lost their electricity Nov. 7 if not for last-minute charity utility assistance.
Yeager, 29, operates a house cleaning business Monday through Friday. She works weekends in a warehouse, stuffing ad inserts into newspapers. Unable to make ends meet, Yeager juggles her utility bills."So last month I paid the gas bill. This month I paid half the electric bill," she said.
Yeager's family is among more than 600 up for "adoption" through Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Service's Adopt-A-Family program. The annual Christmas drive distributes gifts and food to low-income families in St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties.
The Care Service encourages organizations and individuals to adopt a needy family by purchasing at least one gift per family member. Donors receive want-lists with each family member's age and gender, but they never learn the family's names or location.
"This year we are dealing with more homeless families than ever before," said Yvonne Tihen, the Care Service case manager who organizes Adopt-A-Family.
As of last week, Yeager still had a home. But a dispute with her landlord resulted in a Nov. 15 deadline to clear out.
Yeager's oldest child, 12-year-old Autumn Copeland, said she is used to it.
"We've moved four times in four years," Copeland said. "We'll have to keep on moving. We don't have enough money to keep a house. It's disappointing."
Copeland sat down last Wednesday with her siblings, ages 2-11, for a dinner of pizza rolls and macaroni and cheese. Sister Jordan Copeland, 11, said their situation was not so bad.
"The only thing is we don't have water right now," she said.
Yeager drives a car with bald tires. She said her steel belts would probably become visible within a couple weeks. But she has to worry about finding a new home first, then paying utilities, then replacing the tires.
The Care Service acquired a donated van for Yeager, but she could not get tags for it because she owed property taxes on a mobile home she used to own. Fearing her car's bald tires, Yeager drove the van anyway. She received four tickets for driving with expired tags. Each carries a fine of $88 plus court costs.
"It's a big mess, a chain reaction," Yeager said. "When something goes wrong, it just spirals."
Yeager said she considered herself "upper middle class" when she was married. Her husband's family owned three airplanes, several rental properties and a business equipment company. But after the divorce, creditors began garnishing her wages. She filed for bankruptcy, damaging her credit rating and making housing more expensive and difficult to find.
This is the second year Yeager has enrolled in Adopt-A-Family. Last Christmas, the program supplied her children with at least 12 presents each. Gifts filled half her living room, Yeager said.
Jordan Copeland said she remembered last Christmas.
"It was cool. We had tons of presents," she said. "My favorite was a radio-controlled car. It's cool because I get to control it."
Families in the Adopt-A-Family program must meet income guidelines. For instance, a family of two cannot receive an annual income of more than $26,000.
Tihen said the program's families do not have basic appliances and accessories like blankets, pillows, toasters and coffee makers. But the biggest need is children's shoes. In the past, the Care Service received grants to pay for shoes. But this year, all but one of the grants fell through.
"There are about 1,000 kids that we cannot provide shoes for," Tihen said.
The Care Service also needs 350 coats for children. Everything donated to Adopt-A-Family must be new and unused.
Adopt-A-Family donors will drop off the gifts Dec. 15 at St. Charles Community College. The Care Service supplements the donations with additional toys, clothes and food. Families will pick up their gifts Dec. 16. Besides a carload of presents, each family will receive a turkey, ham, fruit and canned side items for Christmas dinner. The Care Service also supplies a Christmas tree and decorations.
Yeager said her family would probably spend Christmas in a hotel, if the Care Service finds the money to help them pay the bill - not just for a room, but also to store their belongings.
"At least I know the kids will have a good Christmas," Yeager said. "Everything else may be crumbling around them, but they will have Christmas."
