Holly House: Fall Update 2015

Volunteers at a prior event - will this be you this December?

We are starting to really ramp up our activities for our 3 day event in December. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes, and there will be a lot coming up! Stay tuned for volunteer requests and details about our shopping event the weekend of Dec 11th. Be sure you're on our email list so we can inform you of the site and volunteer details for the event by filling out our form on the volunteer profile page.

Here are some updates from Pam, our Executive Director:

• We are broadcasting our very first ever year-end plea for financial support for Holly House. Our operational funds are in the negative.
  
  Please consider giving a monthly donation of $10, $15, $20 or a one time donation (or partner up with your company!). We need to be able to keep our lights on so we can continue to help our children with gifts and necessities.Holly House cannot continue without your support - Our children need your help! 

• We are searching for an underwriter(s) for our 3 day event - this person or business would cover costs such as location rental fee, table rentals, chairs, etc. and in return their name(s) would be displayed at the event. Estimated costs are $2500. See our Sponsor page for more details. 



Homemade cookies needed!

• Our official website has been launched! Visit us at hollyhouseforkids.org. Thank you to Eric Cruthird and Jen Winckler for getting this up and running. 
• We are beginning to sign people up to bake homemade cookies for our clients waiting in line to enter Holly House to shop for free for their children. Please contact Karen at orstad4@frontier.com to help. 
• Donations are rolling in for our kids, including 30 pallets of new toys from one of our donors and 4 vanloads of toys from another donor. Thank you!!! 

Drives are under way

• We have begun pajama, sock, underwear, sports equipment, and stocking stuffer drives. If you, your business, or organization would like to host a drive or drop box, please contact us! Neighborhood schools have also begun organizing drives. Our teens historically are most under-served by Holly House, and we are pushing to get an abundance of items for them this year. If you can't host a drive but still want to donate items, we are collecting them now! 
• Our Macaroni Grill Fundraiser was a huge success, thank you to everyone who came out to support us. We don't have final numbers yet, but we do know that sales for their typical Tuesday increased greatly because of our event. 
• All of the paperwork has been submitted to the IRS and we are awaiting final approval for our 501(c)(3) status. This means we would no longer need a fiscal sponsor and will be our own entity. We are currently still interviewing for additional Board members.



We love your Trick or Treat leftovers 

• We will have a Volunteer Handbook for all volunteers helping with the 3 day event this year. Thank you to Dominic Aldridge for your offer to help with this huge task! 
• We accept Halloween candy to use in stockings! Donate any unwanted candy to the kids of Holly House. 

• We are so excited about our amazon.com wishlist - you can go to the wishlist, select gifts and necessities for our kids, and the items will be shipped directly to us. This link is also listed on our website. 

  

  click to visit our wishlist!

Thank you for your continued support of Holly House and our kids. We could not do Holly House without all of you!

Pam Martinez