MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM
HELP GIVE HOPE!
The genesis of Help Give Hope was and always will be Christmas. Even as we grew into a robust year-round charity 22 years ago, our annual Christmas project has remained our largest and most aggressive community outreach. It’s only fitting as we near the conclusion of our 40th year, we find ourselves once again shopping, wrapping and distributing gifts to hundreds of children and families-in-crisis. Christmastime is special whether because of faith, family, friends or community. But we have also witnessed first-hand that the holidays are a time of great difficulty for so many. Families who have struggled to afford just the basic necessities throughout the year, often with little or nothing left over each month, must face the holidays with fear and anxiety. How to provide Christmas for their kids with little or no money in the bank. Maybe even a mountain of debt. This struggle is why Help Give Hope was created.
When we began, our thoughts were not much beyond Christmas and providing a few toys and a food basket. But ‘opportunity’ and ‘reality’ smacked us squarely in the face…we quickly realized to truly help kids we must address the needs of the entire family. Short AND long-term needs. Furniture (especially beds for the kids), appliances, clothing, household items (vacuums, microwaves, etc.), bikes and much more were made available when needed. For the past 20 years we have averaged between 160-205 families ‘adopted’ each Christmas including 450-550 children. Which means in just the past 20 years, during Christmas alone, we have adopted roughly 4000 families and 10,000+ kids. And imagine how many toys, food, clothing, beds, couches, kitchen tables & chairs, dressers, washers & dryers and refrigerators! Throw in our year-round efforts and the numbers in our first 20 years and you can imagine how far and wide our reach has grown.
If you’ve read this far and are not really familiar with Help Give Hope, you might ask “How did you pay for all of this? Who did all the hard work?” We owe everything (EVERYTHING!) to our Help Give Hope family who refused to let us be small. Their generosity required we grow, to take on more families, provide better services and eventually to become a year-round charity. They also form the nucleus of our volunteer army of hundreds who work tireless and selflessly throughout the year whether on the garage sales, golf tourney, The Longest Table and, of course, the Christmas project. They are generous, loving, hard-working and loyal. We would be nothing without them.
40 years! Wow! That is a long time but, also, just a beginning. We hope in some iteration, Help Give Hope will be around in another 40 years. Many of us will be gone by then, but what about our kids and grandkids? Sadly, poverty is going nowhere. There will always be a need for Help Give Hope.
From Murray, Sandy, Michael and Brad, we wish you health, safety, happiness and joy this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!
