At work, there's a group who collect makeup, skin and bath products, perfume, etc. from mostly women in the building, put the items in gift bags, and hand them out to women at area shelters at Christmas time. A lot of these women don't get any Christmas gifts as they are fleeing an abusive situation and have very little. I usually collect items from a number of women I work with and take it to the group. The feedback is always wonderful!
It might be an idea to see if the womens shelters would be interested in a program for the kids too or at least let them know about Cheerful Givers.