Good Karma Holiday Program

Give Joy This Holiday Season

A Wider Circle is gearing up for its annual Good Karma Holiday Program, and we couldn’t do it without the support of our incredible community. Your contributions are essential to our mission of helping families thrive during the holidays — and all year long.

How You Can Help This Thanksgiving

This 2025 holiday season, we invite you to join us in providing meaningful, ongoing nourishment for neighbors near both our Ward 8 Hub and our Silver Spring Center. Let’s come together to provide families with a true bounty of goodness. Your generous donations can make a significant difference. Please consider contributing today!

🦃 1. Food & Grocery Gift Card Bundle

Drop off a selection of shelf-stable food items and include a $50 grocery gift card (Giant, Aldi, or Safeway preferred) for families in our programs.

🛒 2. Prefer to shop online?

You can purchase items directly from our Amazon Wish List and have them shipped to our Silver Spring Center.

🥫 3. Give from your pantry.

Please ensure items have expiration dates at least one year out.

Suggested food items:

1 Cranberry sauce (whole or jellied)
1 Stuffing mix (e.g., Stove Top)
1 Box of instant mashed potatoes
1-2 Cans of sweet potatoes
1-2 Cans or jars of turkey gravy
1 Box of macaroni noodles
2-3 Canned vegetables (preferably low sodium)
1 Cornbread mix
1 Can or box of shelf-stable milk

Three Ways of Gift-Giving in 2025

1. Highlands Family Gift Sponsorships

For 9 years, A Wider Circle has worked year-round with families in the Washington Highlands neighborhood in Southeast DC. Our Neighborhood Partnerships program operates a bustling community resource center called the Ward 8 Hub, providing essential items, health and wellness services, and daily activities. By mid-November, our team will have met with families from our Ward 8 Hub to understand their needs and preferences. As a sponsor, you will have the opportunity to directly support a family from a list of neighbors residing in the Washington Highlands Community.

How you can help:

Personalize a holiday experience by sponsoring one or more families from a list of neighbors in the Washington Highlands Community.
Provide one grocery gift card ($50 or more) per household. (Giant, Aldi, or Safeway preferred)
Include one retail gift card ($25 or more) for each adult and/or teenager (age 13+)
Add two toys and one book or educational item for each child 12 and under.
Plan to gift-wrap, tag, and label all items with family members’ names, and drop off by Monday, December 15, at the front office of 9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

🎁 If you sponsor one or more families, you’re invited to celebrate the season and meet families at our Holiday Parties on Friday, December 19, and Saturday, December 20, 2025, from 10 AM – 2 PM.

Enjoy hot cocoa, light refreshments, and the joy of connecting directly with the families whose holidays you’ve brightened.

2. Winter Wonderland in Silver Spring

Throughout December, families visiting our Essential Support Program for free furniture, baby gear, or professional clothing will have the opportunity to “shop” for gifts in our festively decorated Winter Wonderland space at:

The Ann and Don Brown Center for Community Service, 9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.

How You Can Help:

Shop from our Amazon Wish List and ship items directly to us.
Drop off new toys, items for adults, or gift cards (retail $25+, grocery $50+)
At our Silver Spring Center, Monday–Saturday, 9 AM–5 PM by Wednesday, December 17.
Contribute Neighbor Resource Funds to help us meet specific family needs.

3. Provide “Gifts of Love” to the DC Housing Authority

Since 2018, A Wider Circle has proudly partnered with the DC Housing Authority to ensure every child in public housing receives a holiday gift.

This year, we’re continuing that partnership by providing hundreds of brand-new toys for children across the District.

How You Can Help:

Purchase toys from our Amazon Wish List and ship directly to our Center.
Drop off new toys Monday–Saturday, 9 AM–5 PM through December 17, 2025, at the front office of the Ann & Don Brown Center for Community Service, 9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.

Together, we create holiday magic.

It will take many hands — some big, some small — to make the 2025 Good Karma Holiday Program a success.

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Karma Kenny, a role model for us all.
In 2020, we renamed our Holiday Program to the Good Karma Holiday Program in honor of our long-time supporter and dear friend Karma Kenny, who passed earlier that year.

Karma was a consummate gift giver whose spirit of generosity and infectious enthusiasm for sharing her time and treasure with us, and the Holiday Program, touched all who encountered her. She truly enjoyed the act of giving and is a role model for us all. While she will be missed, her spirit lives on.

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