Archive for April 2011 | Monthly archive page
A very special thanks to the ladies of the Buena Park Women’s Club. They come once a month on Monday nights to help out with several different projects around GCHope.
Back in September they very graciously helped out by setting up for our annual gala. Tasks included stuffing envelopes as well as set up for the event itself, making everything beautiful! In December, they helped to organize a Toy Drive for more 3,000 elementary students in Orange County.
Just this past Monday they were here again, helping with our backpack program, sorting donated food items and packing backpacks for the coming week. Thanks for all of your help ladies!!!
The talented gentlemen of Men Alive, the Orange County Gay Men’s Chorus, asked their audience members to participate in raising funds and product for Japan disaster relief.
During their shows, audience members brought relief items and money to help aid in disaster relief efforts. The response was wonderful!
See the video of Men Alive stopping by the Giving Children Hope facility to present the donations.
Thank you so much, Men Alive!
In response to the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan and created a massive, destructive tsunami, Giving Children Hope is connecting with partners on the ground to bring relief to the areas most affected.
GCHope began sending containers filled with medical supplies, disaster relief items, hygiene products, emergency disaster beds and more.
To aid in these efforts, The Kids Who Care Foundation (KWCF), an all volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, partnered with GCHope and were able to mobilize their family of volunteers to collect essential items needed to care for surviving babies of the disasters in Japan.
A total of 18 schools and businesses helped KWCF collect items for the Japan victims.
Approximately thirty volunteers- ranging from 5 year olds to Seniors-gathered at one of the collection stations (Mercedes-Benz of Foothill Ranch) and organized all of the items donated by the Orange County community.
Volunteers sorted all the donated items from several schools and businesses. They packed dozens of boxes filled with items that were from North to South Orange County areas (Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Anaheim Hills, Fullerton, Irvine, Lake Forest, Trabuco Canyon, Foothill Ranch, Brea, Costa Mesa, and Tustin).
“The volunteers were overwhelmed at the generosity of the community upon arrival at the collection station,” stated Anisha Shukla, Executive Director of KWCF.
The donated items included 200 diaper bags by Irvine Pediatrics, Irvine, which were filled in an assembly-line fashion with baby formula, diapers, wipes, medicine, wash clothes and baby blankets.
“The schools, along with businesses and individuals, truly came together in generosity for the Japan Disaster Relief,” said Shukla.
Students of Mary Bragg Elementary get creative as they host a variety of fundraisers to support disaster relief efforts in Japan. They were able to raise more than $1,200 for Giving Children Hope!
Watch the video to hear their wonderful ideas! Thank you so much, Mary Bragg Elementary!
When Crescent Avenue, a local Buena Park Christian school, heard about the food shortage affecting Giving Children Hope’s Backpack Program, they decided to incorporate a food drive into their own school scholarship fundraiser.
Cresent Avenue’s mission for their fundraiser is to one day provide scholarships to children in the community who would greatly benefit from Christian education.
“We firmly believe that giving back to the community is our duty and what God calls us to do,” said Belinda Miller, Publicity Captain for Cresent Avenue.
When Crescent Avenue found out through Brain Power Mania that GCHope’s “We’ve Got Your Back” program, a program which works to fill thousands of backpacks with nutritious foods to feed 1,000 homeless children in Orange County each and every weekend, needed help they felt it was their calling to combine fundraisers.
“We will do our best to bring as much food and attention to the cause as we can,” mentioned Miller.
Crescent Avenue’s fundraiser entitled “Race for Christian Education” kicked off Friday, March 11, 2011, with a Family Dinner Night. Their school-run food drive to benefit GCHope’s Backpack Program will run from March 11-April 15th.
They have made it a priority to advertise the food drive as much as possible throughout their school, Church and Preschool.
The International Council of Shopping Centers, a global trade association of the shopping center industry, selected Giving Children Hope to receive the Silver award for its cause-related campaign at the 2011 MAXI Awards.
The ICSC’S MAXI Awards set the standard of excellence for marketing in the retail real estate industry and awards each competing retail center’s campaign based on collaboration, execution and achievement.
The competing communications campaigns range from public relations to sales promotions.
GCHope’s cause-related campaign caught the attention of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
When GCHope became aware of the 26,000 homeless kids living in Orange County it took measures to help feed these children and created a Backpack Program, We’ve Got Your Back. With canned food donations, GCHope fills thousands of backpacks with nutritious foods to support 1,000 children each and every weekend.
To raise more donations to keep the program alive, GCHope partnered with Buena Park Downtown to get the local community involved. They solicited a local radio station and gained the support of the popular teen idol, Jason Derulo, to coordinate a benefit concert to raise canned goods to fill the backpacks. Food donations for the concert were the price of a ticket.
With Jason Derulo’s extensive fan base and the helping hands of the local community, GCHope was able to raise 8,000 pounds of food- enough to feed 1,047 children. This exceeded the charity’s donation goals, making the campaign a success.
GCHope and Buena Park Downtown won recognition for this cause-related campaign at the MAXI competition this year and received $10,000 for this campaign.
This year’s MAXI Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa in Hollywood, CA.
Visit www.icsc.org/2011FC for more information.
