BAKERSFIELD, CA. - Most kids can't wait for Christmas morning to unwrap a present under the tree. But for kids in foster care who spend the holiday away from their families, Christmas can be a tough time of the year.
The Department of Human Services works each year to make sure every foster youth in Kern County has a merry Christmas by hosting the Holiday Cottage.
Holiday Cottage gives the community the opportunity to make Christmas a little brighter for youth like Christina Torrez who celebrate her 8th Christmas in foster care this year.
"We can't be with our families and that's the one thing foster youth want is to be with their families or to be around family," said Torrez "Just to have that sense of hope that someone does care, someone loves us enough to give us presents and to give us their presence around the holidays."
Holiday cottage provides a space to grant the Christmas wishes of Kern County foster youth. About 800 wishes need to be granted this year to kids of all ages.
"The process is that you go in to the holiday cottage, you select a child by gender, by age and something that you'd like to give, you buy the gift you return the gift, and we take care of wrapping it and delivering it to the child," said Dena Murphy, Director of the Department of Human Services.
Christina wants a Barnes and Nobles gift card this year, and has a bigger Christmas wish for her two-year-old daughter Angelina.
"I want her to have a Christmas that I haven't had," said Torrez. "I asked for shoes and clothes for her, thats what I asked for her, and toys, so hopefully that will come true."
To make that wish come true or to grant any of the wishes, head down to the holiday cottage in the middle of the mall.
The cottage will open starting today at 10:30 a.m. and stay open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Dec.14.