Though there have been 15 foster parent adoptions since last Christmas, the need is still great for help from the community to make this Christmas special for local foster children.

The Chilton County Department of Human Resources is once again sponsoring Christmas wishes for foster children in the county, and there are a number of ways those interested can help.

DHR is providing for 83 foster children this year, according to a press release, and DHR director Marilyn Colson said the number of foster children provided for at Christmas hasn’t dipped far below 80 in her seven years in the position.

There were 106 foster children for last year’s Christmas Wishes program.

“We hope that you will be able to help us provide for our county’s foster children again by contributing to our Christmas Wishes program,” Colson said in the release. “You can help provide Christmas gifts to these foster children in several different ways.”

Methods of donation include:

•Sponsoring the wishes of a specific child or children.

•Providing gift cards to popular stores. This option is especially attractive for foster teens, of which there are 30 under DHR’s care.

•Making a financial donation to the agency, which will shop for you.

“People do all of those, and any one of them helps us equally,” Colson said.

To sponsor a child, call (205) 280-2000 or email marilyn.colson@dhr.alabama.gov.

Colson said those interested in sponsoring a child will have their ability to give matched with a child’s wish list, or sometimes a person can provide for part of a wish list.

“If you want to help, we want you to be able to help,” she said.

To make a financial donation, make checks payable to the Chilton DHR Foster Children’s Fund and mail to P.O. Box 1699, Clanton, AL 35046.

Or, donations or gift cards can be dropped off at the DHR office off Airport Road next to the National Guard Armory.

Donations will only be used for the needs of Chilton County foster children.

Colson said gift cards should be to locations a foster child could visit easily, such as Walmart or Target. Also, Visa gift cards and iTunes gift cards are options.

Various groups in the community, including churches, clubs, schools, individuals and the DHR staff, come together each year to make sure that every foster child is provided for.

“We’ve never had a child not be sponsored,” Colson said. “That could never happen.”

Colson said the program also has benefits for the people who work with the foster children.

“These are troublesome situations we deal with, but when we see the way people are willing to step forward every year, it makes us feel good,” she said.