Thank you to everyone who came out to the Holiday Wine Fundraiser on December 15th at the Vineyard in Orlando! Because of you we were able to put a dent in the funds needed to cover the costs of the Firm Foundation Preschool!
Big thanks to Windermere Preparatory School for allowing Amy and I to host our 2nd annual Toys for Hope, new toy drive. All the toys collected go to homeless and at risk children, giving them a Christmas they deserve.
Windermere Prep offered their offices to be a drop-off between the 6-15th of December for anyone in the community who wanted to donate. As a result, we needed a truck and full size van to carry them off!
We are so grateful to the entire community for their generous hearts.
2016
I want to thank everyone who stepped up and supported my family yesterday with our Toys for Hope event. We are so grateful for the people who helped spread the word about the event, and of course, all of you who came by to drop off gifts and say hi. Thanks to those who stayed and helped pack up the donations and thank you to Windermere Preparatory School who graciously allowed us to use their property as a drop-off point as well as help draw people in to support the cause.
Our Toys for Hope event collected over 300 gifts in just 3 hours! The event took place from 1-4pm on December 6th and by 4pm we needed to call in reinforcements to help haul all the goods. Three car/truck loads were packed to the max and were hauled off to the Matthew’s Hope warehouse in Winter Garden.
All the gifts collected at our event will be set up on display at the Matthew’s Hope Christmas Carnival, which takes place on December 12th. There, children who are homeless, and whose families are working with the Matthew’s Hope program, will walk through a room of toys and gifts filling out a list of things they want to ask Santa for. They will then meet Santa who arrives on a fire truck courtesy of the Winter Garden Fire Department. With the help of their families, and of course Santa, Christmas morning will become a magical moment for these beautiful children.
Matthew’s Hope is a program that works hard day in and day out helping rehabilitate people who are homeless. The program, which refers to the homeless as Guests, provides healthcare, counseling, transitional housing, jobs and services such as haircuts, showers and more. Guests who enroll in the program are given jobs that help them earn points that they can use towards purchasing needed items. There is a large pantry on-site at Matthew’s Hope where Guests can buy things such as food, diapers and toiletries. Once Guests have reached a certain level in the program they will receive career counseling and help in finding a job. Matthew’s Hope is dedicated in the community to providing people in need with a hand up rather than a hand out. For more information, you can find them at www.matthewshopeministries.org.
After visiting our first rundown resort over in Kissimmee, we wanted to do it again. While driving down US192, we noticed this place and pulled in to check it out. There were two places that had closed down. The first place was River Adventure Golf and next it, the Viking Motel.