Volunteer Spotlight - Sarah

Here is Sarah embracing our Santa cutout last year (2012) at Holly House.
She's such a gem. She is responsible for one of the yummy meals our volunteers get during the event and she has been relentless in promoting a toy/pajama drive for us.

Last year she just came to feed us and couldn't leave. Today, with a huge grin on her face, she told me she was bringing a friend to help this year at the Holly House Event. Who could ask for a better volunteer...

Holly House's first board meeting!

Holly House had it's very first Board Meeting today. Another step in the journey to get our own 501(c)(3) non profit status instead of being under a fiscal sponsor.

We have the best, and I mean very best Board who's sole goal is the good of the kids. I am so blessed to take this journey with them.

~ Pam, Executive Director

Cookie coordinator needed 12/15

We need home made cookies to serve to our parents on December 15 as they wait to enter Holly House to begin their free shopping experience for their children. We have had some generous offers to help, and could sure use some more. But what we could really use is a person to help COORDINATE this cookie project - we will have about 550 families to serve, some with one parent, some with two.  If you have some time to give, and are good at organizing, please contact Pam. We would love your help.

UPDATE 11/25 - Thank you to Karen, our new cookie project coordinator! We can still use lots of bakers to make cookies though!

Thank you Urban Coffee for donating all the coffee and hot chocolate/cider we need. Cookies and hot cider, YUM.

Walmart toy drive 11/30

Holly House Toy and Pajama Drive at the Lynnwood Walmart (on 164th ST)

Look for the toy displays throughout the store! There will be a collection site at the front of the store. Help fill up the van!
Black Saturday - November 30, 2013 - 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

 

Schools supporting us with toy drives

Neighborhood schools in the Edmonds School District are gearing up for toy and pajama drives to support Holly House! What a great way for children to get involved - perhaps helping a neighbor or schoolmate without even realizing it. We can't wait to see the bins fill up at the local schools like the one in progress at Fred Meyer in Lynnwood (pictured below)

Schools doing Drives for Holly House 2013

 

Meadowdale Elementary – Toys

Terrace Park Elementary – Toys   

Brier Elementary – Toys & Pajamas

Lynnwood Elementary - Toys

 

Beverly Elementary – Stuffed Animals

College Place Middle – Stuffed Animals

 

Mountlake Terrace Elementary – Sock, Underwear

Mountlake Terrace High – Socks, Underwear, Pajamas

Meadowdale High – Pajamas, Toys

If your school or PTA would like to get involved, please use the Contact Us form on the Home page. We welcome any and all contributions, and setting up a drive can be a fun, easy way to boost holiday spirit at your school. We currently are able to support 15 schools in the district with our program. How amazing would it be to have enough supply to support them all?!

The giving spirit with Holly House

The Mountlake Terrace Senior Center continues to bring in gifts for our children

At Holly House, we are thankful every day for our amazing volunteers and members of the community who bring donations for the many children we help. My Edmonds News (an online newspaper) just wrote an article about ways to emphasize thankfulness and the spirit of giving with your children during the holidays. Check out the article for a great idea on how to do this! Included in this was to consider donating to Holly House. We are so grateful for their recognition of Holly House as being a noteworthy local non-profit!

Kids loved helping choose toys to "fill the ship" during our 2012 Treasure Island Pirates toy drive at Walmart

Children helping other children is a beautiful thing. We would love to hear how you get your children involved with your own family's giving to Holly House. Do you have them select toys? Are they part of a toy drive? Do they help volunteer? Please leave a comment below and share your ideas!

Thank you JBF!

JBF (Just Between Friends) is the Nation's leading children's and maternity consignment sales event. They will be holding their holiday toy sale this weekend Nov 22-23rd at Gold Creek Church in Mill Creek. Look for them on Facebook "Just Between Friends of Lynnwood" to stay up to date on their projects.

These guys support us in huge ways.  They give us all the donated toys and clothes after the sale and do sock, underwear and pajama drives for us during their event. All admission fees from their event are given to Holly House as well.

They also bring a team with them to the Holly House Event.  They are the greatest people and we love being teamed up with them.  Thank you Heidi and Steve and your team!

Holly House November update

We are a month away from the Holly House Event. This year we will be serving over 2000 low-income children in 15 schools in the Edmonds School District.

We have been collecting donations all year long for our needy children. The storage units are getting full but we still need:

• 900 pairs of pajamas - infant to 10 year olds
• Toys and gifts for infants to 17 year olds
• Stuffed Animals – all sizes
• Individually wrapped candy for the stockings

Check our Drop off Locations tab at the top of the page for our current drop box locations!

Tear down help needed 12/15

If any of you are available we sure could use more help for tear down. Last year the gym was cleaned up by 11:00 pm and everything back in storage by midnight. The more hands, the sooner we get to go home.

December 15th - 5pm - 11pm (approx) 

Please contact Pam if you are available to help! 

 
Marylynn from our wonderful Premera team is so dedicated to Holly House and our kids. She heads up the tear down team that comes on Sunday night to pack and clean up after all of the parents have shopped for their children.

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.

Fred Meyer's kickoff toy drive

Yesterday kicked off a massive toy drive for our Holly House kids. This is the manager, David at the Fred Myer on 196th in Lynnwood. He has graciously place toy drop boxes at all three of their doors. Thank you so much David.

So many of our children have gone years without as much as a present at Christmas. So sad and hurtful. And so unnecessary. Help us make this the best Christmas every by buying and dropping off toys at our many locations around the Lynnwood and Edmonds area.

Drop Boxes can be found at:

SPARTAS Restaurant - on 99, Lynnwood
TACO TIME - on 196th & 44th, Lynnwood
FRED MYER - on 196th, Lynnwood
MS Helping Hands – 409 Howell Way (under IGA), Edmonds
Armadillo Storage Office - on Highway 99, Edmonds
Mt Lake Terrace Senior Center
Merrill Gardens, Mt Lake Terrace

Unwanted Halloween candy?

Candy, candy and more candy. Thank you Jodie, Annie, Ingrid and all the rest of you whose names I don't know that have donated your leftover Halloween Candy to Holly House. We have 2,000 stocking to put candy in for our kids. This is giving us a good start.

We still need a lot more. Keep that candy coming!

Great article on the work we do

Wow, Wow and Wow. Pivot Edmonds, a new facebook site just launched and made Holly House one of it's first articles. Click here to read the article.

Our hope is that it will bring more awareness to our program and the needs of our kids. Thank you Elizabeth Christensen for an amazing article. Please share with anyone who you may think would be interested!