As of Friday, December 16, officials with AFL-CIO Community Services said they had 864 families that applied to be adopted for Christmas through the Adopt-A-Family Christmas Program.

Friday was the last day families could apply. Of the 864, the good news is 470 families have already been adopted. The 394 families remaining need the help of the public to make their Christmas wishes come true.

Unfortunately the number of families needing to be adopted is much higher than the numbers available at this time last year. We are very hopefully that many more adopters will contact the agency this week.

If necessary they will be working through Christmas eve to try and get these families adopted.

To adopt contact AFL-CIO Community Services at 816-364-1131, 1203 North 6th St, or through the website www.helpmenow.org .