This year’s Hope for the Holidays Projects were a wonderful success! Special thanks to the many corporate sponsors, businesses and individuals who offered their time, talent and treasure to make this a happy time of year for the many families and individuals in our programs.
Our Adopt-A-Family project brought Christmas cheer to the families with children who have experienced homelessness and are now in Next Move programs. With program expansion, we needed your help more than ever and YOU came through! 44 of our families were adopted by our community and another 71 families received gifts and household items through the various toy drives and Amazon.
We were blessed this holiday season with several community toy and turkey drives. Thank you Aero Jet, AAU Basketball Team, Deloitte Consulting and Young Democrats for the toys and gift cards. Folsom Prison provided gifts for all 70 children in the family shelter. United Way and Russ Gostage came through with 50 turkeys!
On December 6th, we had our own little miracle, at our administration office on 34th Street! Next Move was selected by Amazon as one of a very few nonprofits visited by Santa and his Amazon Elves, delivering over $15,000 worth of household items, supplies and toys for families in our programs. Though it was a really cold morning that day, we were warm with gratitude; thanks to Amazon’s generosity, adults and children alike received presents that made this holiday season a more memorable one.
The Amazon gift also supported our Secret Santa project which provided gift bags to 117 chronically homeless, disabled, seniors and older adults who are participating in Next Move’s permanent supportive housing, safety-net, emergency shelter and motel voucher programs. Thank you Bayless Properties for donating 50 Secret Santa bags and Nielson Merksamer Parrinello Gross and Leoni LLP for donating 30!
We serve an average of 65 children per night in our Family Shelter and an additional 50-60 per month in our Francis House Center’s (FHC) Family Rescue program. We received a grant from Book of Dreams for Winter Warmth packs consisting of socks, underwear, gloves, a knit hat and a jacket or pullover sweatshirt for 100 children and youth residing in our programs during the winter months.
We couldn’t do what we do without YOU! So many people came together to make Christmas magic happen for the many families and individuals in our programs who have been touched by the generosity of others.