Love I.N.C. of Manteca is looking for “adopting families” to buy and wrap Christmas gifts for needy children in the area.

Love In the Name of Christ, a nonprofit organization, is expecting to serve about 500 youngsters in its 2011 Children’s Christmas Gift Program. Love INC director Stephen Parsons said that total number is in addition to the 250 children that are being helped through the Manteca Unified School District, the Soroptimist International service club of Manteca, as well as other organizations that are partnering with them in this effort.

Last year, Love INC’s affiliation with the school district resulted in 160 children being helped. All in all, 509 children received Christmas gifts through this program.

By matching the young gift recipients with the “adopting families,” the program eliminates any guessing game when it comes to providing the right size, color or choice of gift to a participating child. This is done by asking families in need of assistance to provide the program with “three needs and three wants” for each child. Love I.N.C. then tries to find an “adopting family” to purchase and wrap the gifts for each child.

Parsons said they are asking that “a $50 limit per child be followed so that no child in a family will feel slighted.” Families who sign up to adopt a child or children will be given a “scroll” containing information about the participating children’s needs and wants, and along with it, a “unique code number,” so the adopting family does not know the identity of the child or children.

The packages are then delivered to Love I.N.C. with the identifying code number on the boxes, to be delivered to the families who signed up for the gifts.

Explaining the importance of this technique, Parsons said, “This allows the parents to personalize the gift tag in any manner they wish,” whether they would like to tag a gift as something that came from Santa or from Mom and/or Dad.

The gifts will be distributed the week before Christmas at a “drive-thru” event to be held at a local church which is yet to be identified.

The Children’s Christmas Gift Program is in need of volunteers to assist in creating the scrolls, tracking and organizing the gifts, or to provide a helping hand the day the gifts are distributed.

Love I.N.C. is also looking for families or individuals to “adopt” one or more children.

Anyone who wishes to help in this Christmas gift-giving effort can call Bob or Stephen at Love I.N.C. at 825-9131.