Updates: ‘elementary’
For the past few weeks, Giving Children Hope staff, donors, supporters, partners and volunteers have been working around the clock to gather and wrap presents for homeless children in Orange County. This week, all the hard work paid off as we began distribution to more than 3,000 kids in the Orange County School Districts.
Each child was asked to complete a wish list of items they would like for the holidays. Some of the most heartbreaking requests were received on this lists: a job for my dad, presents for my brothers and sisters, a Christmas Tree, a house for my family, and much more.
Though many of these requests couldn’t be met, GCHope and supporters worked hard to bring a little bit of joy into the lives of these children in need. Every child enrolled in We’ve Got Your Back, a weekend nutrition program that provides essential and nutritious meals and nutrition education to homeless children and their families each week, was given a present for the holidays. In addition to these presents, toys were also given to their siblings as well!
Thank you to the hundreds of donors, sponsors, volunteers and supporters who helped to make the holidays magical and bright for the needy community in Orange County. We could not have done it without you and Christmas wouldn’t be the same to these families without all of your help. We are very grateful for your support!
See a video of the distribution here
Every winter, Giving Children Hope begins the happiest and most joyful time of the year: the holiday season for We’ve Got Your Back. In addition to providing backpacks filled with nutritious food and nutrition education each and every week, GCHope also provides families with toys for the children for the holidays. Every child is invited to complete a wish list for themselves and their siblings and volunteers, donors and corporations are able to sponsor these children.
With more than 3,000 students in the program, however, some children are left un-sponsored. This is where Toys for Tots comes in! After years of partnership with Toys for Tots, we were once again joining forces to provide toys and gifts for the kids of We’ve Got Your Back and their siblings!
GCHope staff was ecstatic when we received that call that we would be receiving more than 1,000 toys! Volunteers have been working to sort toys by gender and age ranges and wrapping the presents in preparation for toy distribution later this month.
Thank you so much, Toys for Tots, for allowing GCHope to continue with our commitment to serve the homeless children of Orange County with so much more than just food. We are so thankful for your partnership again this year!
Just up the street from the Giving Children Hope facility is a large building filled with employees with even larger hearts. Nutrilite has partnered with GCHope for years, taking special attention to care for the We’ve Got Your Back program and all the children and families it supports.
Weekly, volunteers from Nutrilite come to the GCHope offices to sort canned food items, pack backpacks and prepare shipments. Nutrilite even went above and beyond at our facilities recently and sponsored a landscaping staff to beautify our building.
As an internal event this month, Nutrilite challenged staff to participate in “Nutrilite’s CAN-struction,” where employees could bring canned food items to support We’ve Got Your Back and build a giant can apple!
More than 1,400 cans were collected and constructed. Giving Children Hope was then called to pick up the collection and provide these generous food donations to the children and families benefiting from We’ve Got Your Back.
Thank you so much, Nutrilite, for your continued partnership and support! We are so thankful to have friends and partners in you!
ROCKHARBOR church in Costa Mesa wanted to reach out to less fortunate school children in Orange County for the holiday season and sought after a partnership with Giving Children Hope. RH staff discovered the We’ve Got Your Back program earlier this year during Vacation Bible School, when children attending helped to raise more than $6,000 to feed homeless school children in Orange County.
This time, however, RH wanted to add a holiday focus to the program. With that, they launched Holiday Giving – an opportunity for the congregation to support We’ve Got Your Back by sponsoring a backpack filled with holiday foods, providing more than 1,000 families with food for the weekend.
RH purchased 1,000 brand new backpacks for the children and challenged the congregation to take a backpack home, purchase the food items as families, and bring the backpack with them to church the following Sunday. Giving Children Hope then received the backpacks and distributed them to the families enrolled in We’ve Got Your Back!
This fantastic partnership was such a blessing this holiday season, when holiday-focused meal items can be extremely costly. We are immensely grateful for this relationship with ROCKHARBOR’s staff and congregation. Thank you so much for your continuous support of the We’ve Got Your Back program!
As a part of a corporate volunteering initiative, employees from Kohl’s retail stores are encouraged to give their time to local nonprofits and charities needing volunteers. For every five volunteers that gives their time to a particular nonprofit, a $500 donation is also given to the organization to match the employees dedication to their local communities.
These Kohl’s employees served their volunteer hours in the We’ve Got Your Back program to help provide backpacks filled with nutritious food and nutrition education to homeless children and their families throughout Orange County. Volunteers sorted food, packed backpacks and helped GCHope staff prepare for distribution. They were extremely helpful and eager to work hard!
A few weeks later, Kohl’s corporate was true to their word and a check for $500 to further benefit We’ve Got Your Back was received!
Because of these volunteers and this donation, thousands of homeless children and their families were provided meals for the weekend.
Thank you so much for all of your help!
A group of employees from Price Waterhouse Cooper recently visited the Giving Children Hope facilities to volunteer their time.
Volunteers helped in the We’ve Got Your Back program, a weekend nutrition program designed to provide meals for homeless children and their families each and every weekend. While volunteering, Price Waterhouse Cooper employees helped to sort and stack food, fill backpacks, organize racks for schools, and prepare for distribution.
These volunteers were so much fun and smiled the entire time they were working. Thank you so much, Price Waterhouse Cooper, for your amazing attitude and tireless service!
Girls from Girl Scout Troop 177, in an effort to earn their Silver Scout Award, brought food to support homeless school children in Orange County through the We’ve Got Your Back program.
The team hosted a food drive, delivered the collections, and then worked in the warehouse for the afternoon.
Thank you for your hard work, girls!
