Employees from 17 departments at the Oneida Indian Nation and its enterprises adopted 18 less fortunate local families in Oneida and Madison counties during this holiday season. Families that found themselves on hard times are being given “the best Christmas ever,” according to Pam Vecchiano of Catholic Charities of Madison and Oneida Counties.

“Each family adopted has a wish list of items that it would like but due to various circumstances cannot afford this year, ” said Vecchiano. “There are no restrictions. A family can ask for anything from an Xbox to Playdough.” And this year one department did just that, bought its adopted family an Xbox.

Participating Oneida Indian Nation departments included: Information Technology; Sales; Security/Surveillance; Finance; Purchasing; Cage; Turning Stone Resort Championship; Marketing Graphics; Facilities; Member Benefits; Nation Retail (Sāv-On); Table Games – Grave Shift; Human Resources Training; Food & Beverage; Peach Blossom; Emerald Restaurant; and Season’s Harvest which adopted two families.

“The Nation’s employees have a tradition of helping families in need in our communities,” said Dana Sovocool, vice president of human resources for Oneida Nation Enterprises. “The adopt-a-family program started a couple of years ago and has grown significantly. We are extremely proud of the generosity of our team.”

The majority of the adopted families participating received everything on their wish list and more, as most of the participating departments provided beyond the wish list with much more than the family asked for.