December 2014:
While most Americans were planning family gatherings, piling gifts under the decorated Christmas tree and preparing for big family feasts, a growing number of financially strained military families are lining up for turkeys and free groceries this holiday season, depending on charities to help put food on the table. We joined forces with a company in Huntington Beach who worked directly with Operation Ward 57. This organization matches people/companies with military families including active duty personnel, career or medically retired military or those honorably discharged from service who have been injured, wounded or acquired a disease during service.
We were matched with the Roberts Family.
Throughout Mathew’s 12 years of service in the US Army, he has experienced many tragedies to others as well as his own. Matthew has served 3 deployments and is currently receiving disability for PTSD, hearing loss, back injuries and tetanus. The Roberts family has sacrificed so much for our country and in a small effort to show our gratitude we set out to provide them with a Very Merry Christmas!
People donated gifts from the families wish list. They were wrapped up and ready to ship. However, their biggest dream is to take a family vacation to Disneyland. Wanting to go that extra mile for this very deserving military family, we reached out to Kristi's Hope followers for donations. We were able to provide Dinseyland tickets for the entire family, Disneyland gift certificates for a full day of fun inside the park, a 3 night hotel stay and gas cards as well as a cash donation for travel expenses.
It warmed our hearts to receive this special thank you from the Roberts family.
“We have been so blessed to have such caring individuals such as yourself. I don’t think words could ever express how emotionally grateful we are. What an amazing Christmas your company has provided for our family. Not only did you go out of your way to provide gifts for our children but went above and beyond to provide us with a FAMILY VACATION. The children woke up to the best Christmas ever. The stockings were hung and the gifts placed under the tree; except, we placed the family gift in the middle of the tree for last. Once the children woke up they ran to the living room to see what was left for them. They sat around the tree with the biggest smiles and yelled “mommy, daddy, come see our presents. My heart dropped the moment I saw their little faces so bright and cheerful. We gave our children hugs and told them Merry Christmas. Then we explained these gifts are from our Adopt-a-Family and they are the reason we were able to give them a proper Christmas. Our son yelled out thank you Adopt-a-Family, followed by a soft thank you from our daughter. One by one they began to open their gifts, and as each one was unwrapped they yelled out OH MY GOSH, LOOK, YEAH, THANK YOU, ITS THE BEST GIFT EVER. Then came time for our family gift, I immediately broke down in tears, my husband and children didn’t know what was going on at all. I tried to hold it together as I read them the cover of our package. The children were confused at first, so I reread the cover and showed them the picture. The screams of excitement from the kids and the “WHAT, ARE YOU SERIOUS” from my husband, made this mommy-to-be even more emotional. The kids then asked if we were going today. We told them “no”, “but soon.” We gave them another hug and let them begin playing with their new toys. It was not until later in the evening that we had a chance to really look through our family package. Oh My Goodness, the picture you made of us at Disneyland is so amazing, I of course burst into tears again. How could this be possible for a military family like ours, to be so well taken care of like this. This has been such an amazing day provided by your generous company. You all have made our Christmas a very blessed, emotional and joyous day lasting well into the night. How could we have been so lucky.
You all have given our children what we could not, and for that, we thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. We cannot thank you all enough, you all are our angels sent from above.”
