Adopting a family "in need"

I take zumba (aerobic dancing) at a church in Centerville, which is taught by this very energetic and spiritual woman whom I really admire. My ears perked up today when she began talking about how our zumba class (probably at least fifty women from around the area) should think about "adopting a family" for the holiday season--aka buying them gifts they couldn't afford themselves.

It sounded like a great idea, and she'd even put the gift requests on little tags at the front of the room. I have fond memories of a similar thing we did in high school. One year I gave a little girl a journal, since in her note she said she wanted to write. That request really touched me, so I was eager to see what my family could do to help this year.

Imagine my surprise when I started reading the tags themselves.

"$50 giftcard to China Cottage"

"Nintendo DS games"

"iPod case"

etc.

I understand that many families in our area have been hit hard by the recession, and perhaps one or even both parents have lost their jobs. I'm not sure how families are chosen to be beneficiaries of this type of program, but I don't think a family that requests A SPECIFIC DOLLAR AMOUNT on their gift cards should really qualify. If one of the kids wants Nintendo DS games, that means he already has a Nintendo DS--not the cheapest of toys.

It makes me wonder what we qualify as "need". Of course, I'm equally guilty of material desires, and I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with wanting material things, but there has to be a limit. The point of the "adopt a family" program is to make up for a deficiency and bring Christmas to a home in which it would otherwise not exist. But a parent who can afford to buy their child a DS and has the audacity to request a fifty dollar gift-card from a total stranger doesn't qualify, at least in my opinion. I wonder if that family reads the news and sees the other families around the world whose suffering is ten times greater than theirs.