In 2015, Jackie had her first daughter and her good friend, Ashley, invited her to be a part of the local Moms Facebook Group. As the holidays got close, Jackie noticed that a lot of parents in the Facebook group were looking for gently used toys or recommendations for discounts on toys for their children for the holidays. Every post was usually met with generous parents offering to buy the requestor's children gifts for the holidays. Jackie thought - wouldn't it be great to set up a program in that was a little more streamlined that could connect requesters with willing donors? 

Jackie reached out to Ashley with her idea and Ashley was immediately on board. The two of them developed a system and protocol so that they could keep the families requesting gifts anonymous and still keep everything organized.

Since 2015, Ashley and Jackie have been running the give back each year, and every year their hearts are filled with how generous people in their community are.

We don't have a requirement that anyone meet any certain "need threshold" to ask for gifts - it's all honor system. We didn't want to be the arbiter of what is considered "needy" enough so we're taking it on faith that the people signing up really need it. 

A form is circulated in late October/early November where families can sign up to receive gifts. 

Once the deadline for the form closes, Jackie creates another sign up sheet that anonymizes the requesters and then it's posted for families to sign up to pick a child to gift to (like an Angel Tree).

Jackie and Ashley receive the gifts and then, after the drop-off window closes, they set aside a day - throw on a few holiday movies and wrap and organize all of the gifts. Once all the gifts are wrapped and sorted by family, the gifts are delivered to the families in time for their holiday.

There's lots of ways to help!

1. Check out the sign-up sheet below - pick a child and buy them a gift (or a few gifts).  Keep in mind that some items on the list may seem like big asks, but if we've learned anything from Travis Kelce - it's that you've got to shoot your shot, so understand that the gift suggestions are just that - suggestions. 

Because of the enormous demand this year we have an Amazon shopping list - you can donate here AND (if you want to) have the gift pre-wrapped! Just make sure to include the REFERENCE NUMBER on the gift receipt so we make sure it goes to the right kid!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Z9WAUX89YI07?ref_=wl_share

2. Donate wrapping supplies. We LOVE gift bags (have you tried wrapping a basketball? ), and we always need tape and wrapping paper.

3. Share the flyer with people you know (or companies!) who may be interested in donating.

4. Donate $10-$20 Target or Ralphs/Vons/Aldi cards. We aim to provide each family with a gift card that they can use for the holidays.