The Natchez Children’s Home has been a fixture in the town since 1816, and this year they will celebrate their 190th Christmas.

“I’ve been here long enough to see kids come back for Christmas, and they’ll bring their husbands or wives and their children, and I’ll ask them what they remember, and they always say Christmas,” said Executive Director Nancy Hungerford, who has been with the children’s home for 24 years.

The home supports five programs: the residential group home for abused, abandoned and neglected children; a counseling program, where a full-time licensed clinical social worker does individual, group and family counseling; an on-campus school for the residents, complete with teachers, tutors and a principal; a foster care program; and their newest program, a joint program day treatment center, which helps prepare area children from 3 to 5 years old for school by providing them with intense academic and behavioral work.

In the last three or four years, the home has diversified in an effort to try to provide more services, and the only downside, Hungerford says, is that their budget has gone up, as well.

The entirety of their annual budget must be raised each year to keep the building afloat. They largely depend on fundraisers held throughout the year.

“Contributions are used to keep the building, to get the kids to a doctor, to feed them. The building was built in 1950, and to have to maintain that is very costly. It’s a 24-hour operation in an aging building,” Hungerford said.

Their newest project will be a renovation of the six-acre playground, which will kick off some time next year.

“It’s a wonderful, spacious area,” she said. “But all of the playground equipment, like this building, is about 50 years old. It’s not the safest equipment. We’re calling 2007 our playground year.”

The home is licensed to have 12 children, and they are currently at full capacity. Hungerford said any donation is appreciated.

“Think of everything you need at your house to run it, from the medicine cabinet to your laundry facility. Everything you need, I need, just in a lot bigger boxes, from batteries to laundry soap to medicine,” she said.

Hungerford said that she has a Christmas gift wish list for the kids, and it is almost fulfilled. She said, though, that good G-rated movies are always enjoyed, in either VHS or DVD, and that twin bed sheets, towels and washcloths are always needed.

Monetary donations are greatly needed, and are even accepted online at www.ntzchs.org. Gift donations can be given “to that person who has everything they want for Christmas,” Hungerford said. Checks may be made payable to Natchez Children’s Home Services.

To drop off donations, visit the 806 N. Union St. facility, or call 601-442-6858.