Holly House Summer 2014 Update

Holly House volunteers are busy year-round getting things ready for the event in December that helps 2000 low income children in the Edmonds School District. We are always looking for volunteers and other ways we can meet the needs of Holly House (fundraiser ideas, collection bins, etc). If you are available to help or have some ideas, please contact us using the button to the right!

Here's a look at what is going on this summer:

• Planning is commencing for our 2015 Fundraiser Gala event. If you'd like to be part of the planning committee, we would love your help! Our first meeting will be 7/23/14 - see Volunteer link for more details. 



The Mountlake Terrace knitting group at work

•  Garage sale donations needed – Christmas, household, and kitchen items.  By gathering items that might otherwise go to Goodwill or Salvation Army, we can provide (for free) our families 15-20 gently used items to help supplement their households.
• The Mountlake Terrace Senior Center knitting group is busy making scarves and hats for the children. We acquired some adorable hats for our Holly House kids and needed scarves to match. Thank you all for taking the time out of your knitting group to make sure the kids have matching hats and scarves this winter. They are adorable and the kids will be the "cats meow" when they wear them. Oops, I think I just dated myself...

Here are some of our current volunteer opportunities. Also see the Volunteer page to learn more! 

• We are still in need of a warehouse manager to help facilitate effective storage solutions for the donations we receive year-round. 
• We are in need of volunteers to help sort/organize/pack/move donations 
• We are in need of volunteers to pick up donations from collection bins throughout the year. 

A big THANK YOU to:

Thank you to our volunteers who have helped us these past 7 months of 2014 already, we can't do it without you!

Volunteers helping pick up the shoe donation

Thank you to Redeeming Soles for a giant shoe donation of 1500 pairs of shoes! These shoes may be just what a fast-growing child needs this winter and we are so happy to have them to distribute.

Work party with Target employees

Thank you to employees from the Lynnwood and Everett Target stores who helped us sort and re-pack the storage unit at a June work party.


Thank you to Run to Win for donating sports camp scholarships for our kids. This camp provides a week of sports related activities, and our kids can go for FREE this summer!





There you have our summer update. We have many more activities and plans in the works, stay tuned! Please contact us if you are looking for ways to get involved - even a few hours can make a huge difference.
~ Pam Martinez, Executive Director

Holly House is a year in the making...

Sorting party at the storage facility Nov 2013

You know, I love the incredible response we are getting for our kids but I want to share something that is close to my heart.

It takes us all year long to prepare for the Holly House weekend. We start a day or two after the event, shopping for 70% - 90% sales for the next year. We write grants, do sports equipment, sock & underwear drives in the spring. We scour garage sales for donations for Christmas and home decor for the families. We do fundraisers and many, many sorting parties.

Often it's the same few people doing all the work for months and months and months. We get so tired and really need help. I would challenge some of you to think about joining us throughout the year, to volunteer to help.

There are so many things you could do from sorting parties, having guests bring underwear & socks to family or friend gatherings, getting your company involved, donating your leftover gently used garage sale items, encourage your children and their friends to go through their stuffed animals and donate the ones they aren't using any more, doing a fund raiser for us, to name a few....

We need you to make this happen.

We will work on communicating out our needs throughout the year, and stay tuned here and on Facebook for updates! You can always contact me and we will work out a way for you to help throughout the year.

~Pam Martinez, Executive Director

Storage organization helpers

Last night 24 volunteers showed up at our Holly House storage unit to help us sort, size and pack stuffed animals, toys, stocking stuffers, table clothes, gently used items and to match knitted hats and scarves. 

A much needed pizza break.

There was so much to do and we are so grateful for all the help from the volunteers from Molina, Premera, Kohl's, Laurie and the teenagers she brought, Deidre and her family and of course, some of our Holly House Team. And if I forgot to mention anyone please forgive me. We are so thankful and blessed.