By: Danni Eickenhorst, Midland Division

For the third year in a row Ashley Vehige, 17 years old, adopted a family from The Salvation Army for Christmas. Delivering her bundles today, she said she does it simply because she likes to try to give as much as she receivse for Christmas.

This season, Vehige and friends from her St. Charles County 4-H Junior Leaders gathered gifts and groceries for two families. The first family is that of a single mother coping with the death of her oldest son, and raising his child in addition to her own teenagers. The other family is comprised of a 46-year old mother of four children and 1 granddaughter living under one roof, trying to make ends meet after suffering a 40% loss of income in 2011.

As they unload bags of gifts for each family, along with five bags of food to get them through the holidays, Carla Vehige notes that her daughter was the driving force behind their involvement this year and every year. “She pretty much did this by herself. I just drove her here.”

The families in our Adopt-A-Family program are families that are nominated by agencies, local hospitals and the case workers most intimately familiar with their case,” says Wanda Carson, head of The Salvation Army’s Adopt-A-Family program, “Thanks to people like Ashley and her family, we have seen a 33% increase in the number of families adopted through this program this year.”