Every six months, Celeste Edmunds packed her entire life into a garbage bag.
Growing up in the foster care system meant instability, frequent moves, and not knowing how long she would stay. At one point, it meant losing a brother and sister because there wasn’t someone who could care for the siblings together.
Now the Executive Director of The Christmas Box International, Edmunds ensures that no foster child leaves the organization’s short-term emergency shelter with their belongings in a garbage bag.
Children who pass through The Christmas Box receive a duffel bag or backpack filled with brand-new clothes, hygiene kits, books, toys, and shoes.
“The items represent this sense of dignity and belonging that they deserve to have,” Edmunds says. “They’ll hang on to that feeling of ‘I’m worth more than the items I’m going to put in a garbage sack.’ So we only accept new donations for that reason.”
Edmunds helped found the organization three decades ago alongside author Richard Paul Evans and his wife, Keri. Since, the nonprofit has “provided safety and resources to more than 185,000 children.”
For 30 years, The Christmas Box has been committed to keeping siblings together by accepting youth up to age 18, allowing older brothers and sisters to remain in the same place.
Between its Salt Lake City and Ogden locations, the organization keeps about 1,000 siblings together annually.
Edmunds describes her work as rewarding, even when it's emotionally difficult.
“It’s pretty cool to come back as a former foster child and say, I get to look at the system and all the ways that failed me,” she remembers. “Now I strategically reach out to those partners that failed me due to lack of resources and support them so they can do better for children. I get to own my voice and choose how I want to use that to hopefully better the lives of other people.”
The nonprofit serves about 14,000 children each year through shelter care, resource rooms in state offices, holiday programs, and more than 100 community partnerships. It processes nearly $1 million in in-kind donations annually and ensures none go to waste.
At its core, The Christmas Box mission is about rallying a community around vulnerable children.
“Systems are just not designed to raise children. People are designed to raise children, villages, and communities,” she states. “And so that’s what The Christmas Box International does. We rally a community around these children.”
Edmunds encourages community members to consider how they can serve vulnerable children.
“When people ask me, what do you need here?” she says. “Well, if your kids need it, so does a Christmas Box kiddo.”
There are many ways to help, from volunteering and donating to simply sharing the organization's message. Edmunds invites locals to “reach out and figure out what feels good for them,” because “everybody has a role to play.”
Edmunds’ role is proof that painful beginnings do not define the end of the story.
“Everything awful that happened to me had to happen in order for me to be exactly where I am today,” she concludes. “And it’s beautiful.”
Learn more about The Christmas Box International at TheChristmasBox.org.