Being separated from family is not easy — especially as a young child.

Sisters Sneha Ruth Thomas and Sarah Rachna Thomas know how traumatic it can be. For Ruth, 17, it is from firsthand experience. She and their older brother were adopted when they were young children from India. For Sarah, 11, it was through her siblings’ experiences.

The two girls said this has given them the heart to care for kids who have had a difficult time. This year, things are hitting them a bit more personally because their father recently got laid off from his job and times have not been easy in the Thomas household. Ruth said because of this, they received help from neighbors and members from their church.

“That really meant a lot to our family,” she said

This generosity from others has led the girls to hold a holiday gift drive for local foster children.

Ruth said they let their neighbors on Redmond Ridge and members of their church know about what they were doing, sending out emails and posting information on social media. The drive lasted about two and a half weeks and during that time, people donated toys, clothes, jewelry and more to the cause. In addition, people donated money, which Ruth and Sarah said they used to buy more gifts. Sarah also requested for her birthday that people donate money or gifts to their cause, as well, in lieu of buying gifts for her. In the end, they had more than 350 gifts to give to foster children.

Ruth said seeing how much people donated was “honestly a gift to see that.” She said with this time of year being such a busy time for everyone, they were thinking they would be lucky to get 50-100 gifts. But seeing how much people gave and how much they opened their wallets for their gift drive made them feel blessed to be part of it.

“This Christmas, my sister and I have come at (the holiday) with a purpose,” Ruth said, adding that this has been one of their best Christmases. “This was just a blessing.”

To figure out where to bring the gifts so they could get into the hands of foster children, Ruth and Sarah reached out to family friend Bonnie DeCaro-Monahan. DeCaro-Monahan works as ministry development director for Antioch Adoptions, a Redmond nonprofit that serves families who want to adopt, and connected them with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

From there, the Thomas sisters and their family brought the gifts to the DSHS office in Kent when the drive was completed. They were able to stay at the office for about 30-45 minutes and while they were there, foster parents came in and were able to shop for gifts for their foster children.

“It was really amazing,” Sarah said about the experience.

Like their family, she said some of the families were having financial troubles and it was nice to be able to help them.

“Our family knows what it feels like,” she said about going through hard times.

When they put out the request for gifts, the sisters specifically asked for items for older kids and teens.

Ruth said this was because they’re the ones who will age out of the system first. While this was the case, they still received the least amount of gifts for teens.

“It is harder to shop for older kids,” Ruth acknowledged, “but as they get older, they’re the ones who need it the most.”

She said some of the monetary donations they received were used to shop for teens.

For DeCaro-Monahan, seeing the two young girls do what they did and make such an impact was inspiring and showed that anyone and everyone can make a difference.

“Our potential is greater than we allow ourselves credit,” she said.