Lyndsay Fogarty
It’s not too late to give back this holiday season. Here are some ideas for ways you can bring some holiday cheer to neighbors in need.
Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Florida
Make a difference in the lives of foster families this holiday season. Here are a couple of ways you can help.
Serve as a Devereux Holiday Cheer Ambassador: Sign up on Devereux’s mobile-friendly, socially integrated fundraising tool that will create the opportunity for you to serve as a Devereux Holiday Cheer Ambassador by creating your own link as a fundraiser and sharing the opportunity to donate with your friends, family or neighbors. Any size gift, no matter how small or large, goes to good use in making this holiday a positive memory to last a lifetime for all of those in Devereux’s care. Proceeds will go directly to individuals served at Devereux Florida programs for the holidays.
Be a Holiday Helper: Devereux is committed to making the holidays as special as possible for those they serve. You can support their efforts serving as a Holiday Helper volunteer! Holiday Helpers give generously of their time during this time of year to support our holiday efforts with activities such as helping to serve as a holiday collection location at your location of business, helping transport an inventoried list of holiday supplies to one of our program locations, assembling holiday gift bags and/or assisting with holiday gift wrapping, writing words of holiday encouragement for our Devereux Healthcare Heroes, and many last minute holiday helping needs.
If you are able to donate or volunteer, contact Lindsey Phillips at Lindsey.Phillips@devereux.org.
Give Kids the World Village
On Dec. 18, Pamela Landwirth, CEO and president of Give Kids the World Village, announced, “We will be getting back to our mission of spreading joy and creating the happiness that inspires hope for critically ill children and their families by reopening our beloved Village beginning on Jan. 17, 2021.”
The phased approach will begin with a limited number of families, with numbers gradually growing over time. Safety protocols, such as temperature taking, mandatory mask wearing, social distancing and enhanced sanitation will be strictly enforced on property to keep wish families safe.
You can help GKTW with its reopening in several ways. consider starting a Facebook Fundraiser or by donating now. If you are interested in volunteering at the Village, click here for more information and to apply.
Matthew’s Hope Ministries
Since 2010, Matthew’s Hope Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit organization in Winter Garden, has worked to successfully move people from homelessness to a life of independence and self-sustainability through a variety of assistance options, programs and resources. Volunteers connect Matthew’s Hope guests with the resources and services they need to get back on their feet. They also offer showers, haircuts, clothing, shoes, hygiene products and so much more.
In addition to hygiene and clothing items as well as non-perishable food items to keep the Garden of Eatin’ Food Pantry stocked, Matthew’s Hope currently has an urgent need of donations of the following items during the winter months.
Winter Gloves (Not Heavy)
Blankets (Not Heavy)
Winter Socks (Heavy)
Hand Warmers
Bottled Water
Tents 9”x7”
Sleeping Bags
Hoodies
Boxer Briefs (MD & LG)
Canvas Bags
Jeans (Waist 28″, 30″, 32″ & 34″ * Length 30″, 32″)
For more information, call 407.905.9500 or send an email to info@MatthewsHopeMinistries.org
Nemours Children’s Hospital
For the safety of patients, associates, volunteers and donors, Nemours Children’s Hospital isn’t accepting donations dropped off at the hospital campus this year. That doesn’t mean you can’t play a part in making hospital stays less stressful and more playful for patients and families.
Nemours is hosting a Virtual Toy Drive, which allows donors to give without leaving their homes while allowing the hospital’s Child Life Team to cater to individual patients needs, both during the holiday season and beyond. There are several ways you can give back through this virtual event.
-Make an individual online donation to help support the purchase of toys for our patients
-Gather your friends, colleagues or family members to form a fundraising team and raise money as a group to help our Child Life Department purchase toys for our patients
-Purchase items from the Child Life Wish List directly from Amazon.com.
One Heart for Women and Children
One Heart for Women and Children’s mission is to provide the necessary resources for families as they transition through and overcome varying hardships of daily living in the Central Florida region and abroad. This holiday season, founder Stephanie Bowman and her team of volunteers at the nonprofit are helping over 1,100 children for Christmas with gifts for all ages, from birth to senior in high school, along with food for families with children out of school for the Christmas break.
Currently, One Heart’s biggest need is donations of food and gifts for the pre-teen and teen age groups. This includes:
-Gift cards for Target/Walmart/Kohls for the teens (most needed)
-Wallets for boys and girls
-Cologne and perfumes for boys and girls
-Jenga and teenage games
-Acrylic paints/canvas
Donations can be dropped off at the One Heart for Women and Children facility located at 2040 N. Rio Grande Ave., Orlando, FL 32804 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Dec. 22 or 23. Monetary donations can also be made on the One Heart website or through CashApp ($oneheart2040), Venmo (oneheart-2040) or PayPal (oneheartforwomenandchildren@gmail.com). The team will be shopping, wrapping and delivering gifts up up to Christmas Eve.
No matter how you choose to give, you will be bringing much-needed holiday cheer to children and families across Central Florida.
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