Innovairre gives family a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Christmas

A family of six opened a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas on Tuesday, Dec. 25, after being 'adopted” by Innovairre this year.

Each year, the company in Mt. Pleasant chooses a family to adopt for the holidays. They place cards with each wish list item written on them on a tree, and employees can take a card and bring back a gift to donate. The family is chosen by schools in the Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, Washington and Ft. Madison districts. This year, the gifts went to a family in Ft. Madison.

'We're not supplying a Christmas the family can afford. We're giving a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas,” said Jesse Aynes, outsourcing manager at Innovairre. That once-in-a-lifetime Christmas included clothes, coats, snowpants, multiple pairs of shoes for each family member, pots and pans, toys for the kids and basic necessities, Aynes said.

Throughout the years, Aynes said that families have asked for basic necessities like toilet paper. 'It's heartbreaking because we take it for granted,” Aynes said.

When Innovairre employees can't buy all the presents for the family themselves, the company steps in and covers the rest of the cost.

'The company never lets a family go without,” Aynes said.

Aynes and Ruth Gones, customer service project manager at Innovairre, have done the shopping together during those years, and they said they always have a lot of fun.

Gones said that now she would adopt a family herself even without the company. She was once a recipient of an adopt a family program, one year receiving a $150 gift card to Fareway.

'That was gold and really filled a hole in my holidays. It's a pay-it-forward thing,” Gones said.

Innovairre delivers the gifts either through the school or directly to the family. Those years that Aynes gets to meet the families are 'super worth it” when he sees their smiling faces, he said.

'We want to give them a Christmas they'll never forget,” Aynes said.