Our 2017 Christmas Toy Drive was amazing!

Back in 2016, the desire to give kids gifts at Christmas was placed on my heart. I wasn’t sure how it would happen, I just knew that it was something I really wanted to do. Thankfully my father (who owns a real estate company) did as well, so we partnered up to make it happen. After weeks of planning, collecting donations, shopping and wrapping gifts we spent 2 days handing out wrapped Christmas gifts to children in need. After all was said and done, we were able to bless 144 with a Christmas gift at 2 local elementary schools before they let out on their winter vacation.

Watch this short video so that you can see the looks on their faces as they opened up their presents.

As the kiddos entered the media center decorated with festive table cloths and tables filled with presents, they were greeted with smile and given a sweet treat and juice. As we waited for all the kids to arrive, we were able to chat with the kids and sing some Christmas carols. At one of the schools, there was this sassy, beautiful little girl that captured my heart.

We had labeled all of the wrapped gifts with their names, so we called their names and the elves handed out the presents. Once everyone had their gift, they were able to open them up.

What a joy it was to witness just how happy they were when “Santa” came into the room ? (my husband), how excited they were when we told them Santa brought gifts ?, their smiles as they opened their presents ? and how loud they screamed ? when they saw what they got. My heart was full. ?

After they received their gifts, some of the kiddos gave us hugs on their way out. One of the girls came up to me and asked that I tell Santa how thankful she was. One child said this was the first Christmas gift they had ever gotten. Another child said that it would probably be the only Christmas gift they would get this year. We were touched by what they shared and it was hard for me not to cry.

When I first started thinking about ways to give back to the community for Christmas, it was really important that my kids be a part of it. I wanted them to experience first hand how important it is to give back and see just how blessed they are. Doing this Christmas toy drive and handing out gifts at the schools was the perfect setting for them to get involved and I loved seeing my kiddos interacting with the children and handing out gifts, I was really proud of them.

All of us volunteers walked away with a deeper appreciation of the saying “It is better to give than to receive” which is why next year’s goal is to bless every student in one of the school’s with a Christmas gift…all 560 of them. Ultimately our goal is to bless 1,000 children next year between both schools (maybe even a third one) and I know that we are going to make it happen.

Here are some of my favorite 2017 Christmas Toy Drive photos…

A BIG Thank You to those who helped make it happen! Special shout out to: Art, The Real Estate-Giant, Xtreme Realty Team & its agents, NU World Title for helping to organize the event, wrap gifts and donating their time to hand out the gifts. I’d also like to thank GameStop for toy donations.

As I mentioned before, our goal is to collect, wrap and hand out 1,000 gifts to these schools next year…Would you like to partner with us next year? Comment or email me so we can chat…anything you can do will help?