6th Annual Stockings for the Veterans

Overview: While the holidays for many can be a time for family, festivities, and happy memories, for veterans it can be a trying time. Particularly for the veterans who have to spend their holiday hospitalized for long periods of time in the local VA hospitals. Some of these veterans do not have family and friends to visit them and spend time with them. They are alone.

Objective: Kristi’s Hope partnered with Ray Lopez and Marine Corps League 835, along with the community to collect Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers to fill and deliver to our hospitalized Veterans. We also had Temecula Valley VFW Post 4089, several girl scout troops, boy scouts, local sports teams, Miss International and a Military Santa join in on our efforts.

Result: For about 3 weeks the community worked on handmade patriotic stockings, donations were dropped off and volunteers started RSVP’ing to help fill the stockings. On Sunday December 3rd local volunteers met at Metro Sound in Huntington Beach to fill 915 stockings and again at Harveston Park in Temecula to fill 451 stockings. We had a GRAND TOTAL of 1,366 stockings for our veterans. Within that total we had 165 sugar free stockings for the diabetic patients. We also had one local girl scout troop make 16 amazing stockings for the VA service/therapy dogs. The young volunteers decorated 700 pillow cases for our veterans to enjoy as well!

• Thank you Metro Sound for allowing us to use your parking lot in Huntington Beach.
• Thank you Steve Hyham for donating the tables for us to work on.
• Thank you Amy Wiedner for your endless behind the scenes work to making the HB event a success.
• Thank you to Dr. Pakiz’s office in Long Beach for collecting SO many donations.
• Thank you Jenny for setting up and collecting donations at Xcell Fitness.
• Thank you Shamrock Irish Pub in Murrieta for collecting donations
• Thank you Flexx Fitness in Temecula for collecting donation
• Thank you to all the corporations who donating items to fill the stockings and THANK YOU to the community for making this entire event a success by donating and volunteering your time!

For HB pictures, please visit our album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1966635806751929

For Temecula pictures, please visit our album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1974917145923795

1st Annual Share the Love Pajama Drive (Riverside County)

Overview: Every Child has a right to a good night. Thousands of children across the United States go to sleep at night afraid and lonely, in ill-fitting and soiled clothing and alone with their dreaded thoughts. These children may live in a group home, a shelter or temporary housing facilities. The children are often shuffled from one place to another. Many of them have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Most of these children have never enjoyed the simple comfort of having a parent tuck them in at bedtime with warm, clean pajamas and a bedtime story. Some of the children are living with their families below the poverty level, in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter and some are living within our foster care system. The two simple gifts of pajamas and books let these children know that someone cares - sometimes these are the only new things they have ever received. Through this simple act of love, we can fulfill every child’s right to a good night.

Objective: The pajama drive challenge was intended to bring awareness to the overwhelming need for caring and compassionate people in our community. The children who will receive these donations are victims of circumstance. Children that are a part of the Orange County Social Services, entering foster care. Something as simple as pajamas can put a smile on the children’s faces and bring comfort to their nights in a strange place.

Results: Volunteers met at Temeku Park in Temecula, CA to help match donated pajamas with age appropriate books for children in our Orange County Foster Care system. Beautiful cards, made by the young volunteers, were attached to each pair and they were wrapped up with ribbon. We assembled a grand total of 102 beautifully wrapped pajamas and books.

For more pictures from this event, please check out the album here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1607793942636119

4th Annual Share the Love Pajama Drive (Orange County)

Overview: Every Child has a right to a good night. Thousands of children across the United States go to sleep at night afraid and lonely, in ill-fitting and soiled clothing and alone with their dreaded thoughts. These children may live in a group home, a shelter or temporary housing facilities. The children are often shuffled from one place to another. Many of them have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Most of these children have never enjoyed the simple comfort of having a parent tuck them in at bedtime with warm, clean pajamas and a bedtime story. Some of the children are living with their families below the poverty level, in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter and some are living within our foster care system. The two simple gifts of pajamas and books let these children know that someone cares - sometimes these are the only new things they have ever received. Through this simple act of love, we can fulfill every child’s right to a good night.

Objective: The pajama drive challenge was intended to bring awareness to the overwhelming need for caring and compassionate people in our community. The children who will receive these donations are victims of circumstance. Children that are a part of the Orange County Social Services, entering foster care. Something as simple as pajamas can put a smile on the children’s faces and bring comfort to their nights in a strange place.

Results: Volunteers met at Peter Greene Park to help match donated pajamas with age appropriate books for children in our Orange County Foster Care system. Beautiful cards, made by the young volunteers, were attached to each pair and they were wrapped up with ribbon. We assembled a grand total of 220 beautifully wrapped pajamas and books.

Thank you to Medusa Salon for being a drop off location and for advertising this event for us! Thank you to Regina at Medusa Salon for hosting the Orange County event and making sure everything went off without a hitch!!

Check out the pictures from the event:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1600677086681138

5th Annual Stockings for the Troops

Overview: Men and women serving our country outside our borders, in foreign land, many putting their lives on the line every day, desire the same things you do during the holidays. We can’t bring them home, but we can send a piece of Christmas to them and lovingly remind them that America has not forgotten them.

Objective: Kristi’s Hope partnered with the community to collect Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers to fill and ship off to deployed troops. We also had The JROTC, Brownie Scouts, and the Red Hat Society volunteer their time.

Result: For about 3 weeks donations were dropped off and volunteers started RSVP’ing to help fill the stockings. On Saturday October 28th local volunteers met at the park to fill 761 stockings with donated items such as hygiene products, fun snacks, healthy snacks, entertainment items like puzzles, books, games etc. and several letters/cards drawings thanking the soldiers for their service/sacrifice.

The Brownie girl scouts brought specific donations for the deployed K9’s. The filled stockings for the dogs, and made special holiday cards for them as well.

These stockings were shipped off to deployed troops and all shipping was sponsored by The American Legion in Newport Beach.

• Thank you Congressman Dana Rohrabacher for joining us and supporting our efforts.
• Thank you Jacqueline Toueg for featuring our event in the local news and for all the fun interviews with the volunteers.
• Thank you troop 4174 for collecting donated items for our deployed K9’s.

For more pictures, please visit our album: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1493243464091168

Project Foster Care - Teen Hope

Overview: Remember when you were 17 years old and full of rebellious teenage energy? Now imagine that when you woke up on your 18th birthday, you were all alone. Imagine having to navigate the "real world" all by yourself at that tender age. Sure, at 18 you might have felt like an adult, but as you got older and gained perspective, you realized you still had a lot to learn and needed a lot of support and guidance. What if you had no one--no family, no support system at all? That is the predicament nearly 25,000 18-year-olds face each year when they "age out" of the U.S. foster care system.

Objective: Since MAY was NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH, it was a good opportunity to make a difference. Before being sent out into the world to figure things out on their own, we can provide them with a backpack or duffle bag that includes a few comfort items, necessities and even things that may help them get a job!

Results: THANK YOU again to each and every one of you who took time out of your busy lives to donate to this really worthy cause. Thanks to your generosity, we will be able to provide 31 backpacks filled with necessities for the foster care youth aging out of our Orange County Foster Care system.

Resurrection Celebration Feast 2017

The Salvation Army’s emergency shelter is aptly named The Hospitality House. The Hospitality House first opened its doors in 1964, providing emergency shelter and resources to people in need. Since that time, it has been a beacon of hope to thousands of individuals, networking with community agencies and like-minded organizations to meet the needs of an ever increasing homeless population. 

Thanks to food donations Kristi's Hope and The Sweet Mission Project cooked and served Easter dinner to approximately 100 individuals at the shelter. We were also able to provide each guest with an Easter basket filled with hygiene items and a little bit of Easter candy. These items sure put a smile on their faces!

Project Easter Basket 2017

Overview: Like all children, the children at Colette's Childrens Home in Huntington Beach love to play and they go to school, BUT at the same time, they are different than other children. To no fault of their own, they are struggling with their mom's to meet their basic needs. Easter basics are fun but not always affordable.

Objective: Kristi's Hope worked hard to to rally you all for support once again. We wanted to show these children that their community cares. Our goal was to provide fun Easter baskets to as many of the kids in their program as we could.

Results: Volunteers worked together to assemble 72 Easter baskets for children in the program at Colette's Children Home. Thanks to each and every one who donated we were able to provide a donation of 72 Easter Baskets filled with eggs, toys, candy and more.

3rd Annual Share The Love Pajama Drive

Overview: Every Child has a right to a good night. Thousands of children across the United States go to sleep at night afraid and lonely, in ill-fitting and soiled clothing and alone with their dreaded thoughts. These children may live in a group home, a shelter or temporary housing facilities. The children are often shuffled from one place to another. Many of them have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Most of these children have never enjoyed the simple comfort of having a parent tuck them in at bedtime with warm, clean pajamas and a bedtime story. Some of the children are living with their families below the poverty level, in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter and some are living within our foster care system. The two simple gifts of pajamas and books let these children know that someone cares - sometimes these are the only new things they have ever received. Through this simple act of love, we can fulfill every child’s right to a good night.

Objective: The pajama drive challenge was intended to bring awareness to the overwhelming need for caring and compassionate people in our community. The children who will receive these donations are victims of circumstance. Children that are a part of the Orange County Social Services, entering foster care. Something as simple as pajamas can put a smile on the children’s faces and bring comfort to their nights in a strange place.

Results: Volunteers met at West Grove Park to help match donated pajamas with age appropriate books for children in our Orange County Foster Care system. Beautiful cards, made by the young volunteers, were attached to each pair and they were wrapped up with ribbon. We assembled a grand total of 160 beautifully wrapped pajamas and books.

THANK YOU to every single person who played a part in making this happen. Donating, collecting, volunteering etc. The community came together to make this event a success.

4th Annual Stockings for the Troops

Overview: Men and women serving our country outside our borders, in foreign land, many putting their lives on the line every day, desire the same things you do during the holidays. We can’t bring them home, but we can send a piece of Christmas to them and lovingly remind them that America has not forgotten them.

Objective: Kristi’s Hope partnered with the community to collect Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers to fill and ship off to deployed troops. We also had The JROTC from Pacifica High School, a Daisy Girl Scout Troop, and the Red Hat Society volunteer their time to create Christmas cards to include in the stockings that they filled.

Result: For about 3 weeks donations were dropped off and volunteers started RSVP’ing to help fill the stockings. On Saturday November 5th local volunteers met at the park to fill 398 stockings with donated items such as hygiene products, fun snacks, healthy snacks, entertainment items like puzzles, books, games etc. and several letters/cards drawings thanking the soldiers for their service/sacrifice.

The Daisy girl scouts brought specific donations for the deployed K9’s. The filled stockings for the dogs, and made special holiday cards for them as well. When they were done filling the stockings, they received an extra special visit from US Coast Guard Clint and his Military K9 “Kira”. They got to learn about what a real live Military dog does and how they do it. They even got to see her find bomb material and alert her handler. 300 of the stockings were shipped off to deployed military troops. 25 of those stockings were for the deployed military K-9’s. The rest will be delivered to the wounded warrior barracks.

For more pictures, please visit our album https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1162814683800716

2nd Annual Thanksgiving Harvest Feast

Our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Harvest Feast was held Nov 19, 2016. It was a bold and effective way to make a difference in the lives of hungry people in our very own community. 140 Volunteers worked together with Kristi's Hope and The Sweet Mission Project to make this event happen. The community came together and donated everything we needed to make it a memorable day for all. We served a Thanksgiving meal to those in need, we provided shoes, clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, socks and more. There were hygiene kits and bus passes for every guest, goodie bags filled with granola bars, trail mix, bottled water and so much more. The families were able to enjoy time together in the kids corner playing in the bounce house, making arts and crafts, coloring, playing games and getting their face painted by Tipitina the clown. Some even enjoyed dancing to music provided by a DJ.

We had one little girl so excited to receive new shoes and a princess dress. A homeless gal named Viki was so excited to receive a sleeping bag because she had been really cold on the streets at night. There was a couple who slow danced to the music and then cried because it was the most fun they have had together in quite a while.

Because of each and every person/company who donated and all of our volunteers, we were able to make a huge impact on the lives of those who came to the event. But, it doesn’t stop there!! There were a lot of people wanting to join us but they were afraid to leave what little belongings they had in fear it would be stolen. We had 4 car loads of volunteers who loaded up burritos and to go plates, waters, shoes, hygiene kits etc. and delivered them to the homeless community “tent city” in the Santa Ana river bed.

Together we made a difference.

For more pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pg/kristishope/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1180075992074585

3rd Annual Backpacks with a Purpose

The Need: Back to school time can be difficult for children living in Family Shelters. Their parents cannot afford new clothes or school supplies. Every child should have a chance to attend school and feel good about themselves.

Some of you might think it is the schools job to provide the needed supplies. In the classroom that may be the case, but they do not provide a back pack for the children to get their homework to and from school. They do not provide pencils, crayons, glue sticks etc. for the children to do their homework.

Single mothers are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Many of these homeless single mothers lack the education and skills necessary to become self sufficient. The significance of this problem is that a continuous cycle of homelessness may continue through generations if it is not ended through education and skills to maintain self sufficiency in the community. Thomas House Family Shelter and Colette’s Children’s Home both work with homeless women and children to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent housing. What we really like is that they also provide the life skills needed to secure gainful employment, healthy eating, parenting skills, relapse prevention and conflict resolution to break the cycle!

The Challenge: We took on the challenge of collecting back packs filled with all the supplies needed for a school year to provide to kids in need. These kids are living in poverty and can not afford the necessary items to fulfill their education. We are very proud to say that accomplished that goal!

RESULT: We had several generous people drop off back packs and school supplies. The backpacks were filled to the rim with school paper, notebooks, pencils, pens, highlighters, glue etc. Some of them also included gift cards for back to school clothes, new sweaters were stuffed into the matching lunch boxes that was connected to the backpack, a lot of them had really nice notes attached wishing the kids a great year in school. We were also blessed with the support of Thirty One with Samira who encouraged supporters to donate an insulated lunch tote from Thirty One. For each one donated, she generously used her commission to fill it with school supplies.

Mid August we were excited to drop off 68 insulated lunch totes from Thirty One filled with school supplies to Colette’s Children’s Home in Huntington Beach. As a bonus, we offered a few larger lunch totes to the very hard working staff at Colette’s! We also dropped off 50 backpacks filled with supplies to Thomas House Family Shelter in Garden Grove. In total, we were able to make this school year a little easier for 118 children! They were beyond excited to receive these donations.

Thank you SO much for your support and generosity!

For more pictures, visit our album: https://www.facebook.com/Kristis-Ho...

Be The Change Give Them Hope

Overview: Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. It is a crime that involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, provide or obtain a person for the purposes of sexual or labor exploitation. After drug dealing, trafficking humans is the second largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing. Human trafficking victims are not just adults, but also children and are most often trafficked for sex. The thought of children being sold for sex on a nightly basis is deeply disturbing, but all too real.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations estimates that over 100,000 Human Trafficking victims are children. The San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas are all rated as areas of “high intensity child prostitution” in the country. These human trafficking child victims are now defined by the legislature as Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) and the country has been tasked with the mission to no longer treat these children as criminal’s (ie. “prostitutes” and put them in Juvenile Hall), but as victims and to provide them with services to assist in their rescue and rehabilitation and return them safely back to their families.

Objective: When a social worker first makes contact with a female victim, she is often in the clothes she was put in by her trafficker. She has also been convinced by her trafficker that she is the one making the choice to have sex for money and she no longer sees herself as a child and does not believe she is a victim. When a social worker can provide her with comfortable clothes and shoes as well as other personal belongings, it helps her mind transition back to being a child. Social workers actively look for the child’s parents, but sometimes reuniting her with her family can take many days, as often the family is outside of Orange County or even outside California. To be able to provide the child with clothing, personal hygiene items and something comforting like a stuffed animal or journal, gives her something of her own and lets her know that she is cared about. So, Kristi’s Hope asked for the following donations from the community:

Duffel Bags Teddy Bears Adult Coloring Books Colored Pencils Journals Pens Tampons/Pads New Flip Flops New Sweat Pants New Tshirts

Results: Thanks to the generous community, several people volunteered to fill the donated bags and children made beautiful uplifting cards. Kristi’s Hope also had the opportunity to speak at a church in Huntington Beach bringing awareness and support to the sexually exploited children/victims of human trafficking right here in Orange County. A volunteer with Orange County Social Services agreed to speak in more detail about statistics and facts. We heard from a few other organizations as well, including a victim herself who has overcome her past and created a wonderful and successful life. Thank you so much for supporting my foundation and for the 30 duffel bag donations.

       

For more pictures, please visit our album: https://www.facebook.com/Kristis-Ho...

Resurrection Celebration Feast 2016

We had such a wonderful time pulling together an event last November to feed the homeless and less fortunate for Thanksgiving that we decided to do it again. Kristi's Hope teamed up with The Sweet Mission Project and pulled the community together to make this happen. 

Thanks to the amazing people who took the time to donate and volunteer, we were able to make this a great success. Homeless and less fortunate families came from Westminster and surrounding areas for some Lasagna, Ham, Fresh Salad, Pasta and Potato salad, Desserts and more. Through donations, we were also able provide a clothing closet to "shop" from, they were able to take a hygiene bag filled with necessities, and a grocery bag as well as a to go plate of warm food.

Big shout out to The Firecrackers Softball team for volunteering their time! 

Project Evergreen - Easter Baskets

Overview: The number of children living in motels in OC is astonishing. Like all children, these children love to play and they go to school, BUT at the same time, they are different than other children. To no fault of their own, they are living in poverty where their basic needs are barely met. Their parents or grandparents raising them struggle to pay motel rent and buy food let alone buy the fun little extras all kids desire on holidays like Easter.

Objective: Kristi's Hope worked hard to to rally you all for support once again. We wanted to show these children that their community cares.. We teamed up with Project Evergreen and together our goal was provide baskets, filled eggs and small gifts for 200 children in 6 OC motel locations. Our personal goal was to collect 100 Prefilled Eggs, 100 Easter Baskets and 100 small toys (ages 3-12).

Results: Thanks to each and every one who donated we were able to provide a donation of 192 Prefilled Eggs, 145 Easter Baskets, 120 Easter activity books and 96 boxes of crayons for the children living in local motels.

Here is one of the thank you letters we received:

“ Your time and dedication to Motel Church did not go unnoticed! Take a look at all the happy smiling faces. Thank you for giving your time and donations to serve others. The preparation team for our Easter celebration was filed with love and hope. Those positive and encouraging thoughts from you went straight to the motels and were passed on the the guests and volunteers! It was a beautiful day filled with love. Because of you, children and adults knew someone cared. They were not alone. You made a difference by shinning your light into the world for others! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. “

2nd Annual Share the Love Pajama Drive

Overview: Every Child has a right to a good night. Thousands of children across the United States go to sleep at night afraid and lonely, in ill-fitting and soiled clothing and alone with their dreaded thoughts. These children may live in a group home, a shelter or temporary housing facilities. The children are often shuffled from one place to another. Many of them have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Most of these children have never enjoyed the simple comfort of having a parent tuck them in at bedtime with warm, clean pajamas and a bedtime story. Some of the children are living with their families below the poverty level, in desperate need of food, clothing and shelter and some are living within our foster care system. The two simple gifts of pajamas and books let these children know that someone cares - sometimes these are the only new things they have ever received. Through this simple act of love, we can fulfill every child’s right to a good night.

Objective: The pajama drive challenge was intended to bring awareness to the overwhelming need for caring and compassionate people in our community. The children who will receive these donations are victims of circumstance. Children that are a part of the Orange County Social Services, entering foster care. Something as simple as pajamas can put a smile on the children’s faces and bring comfort to their nights in a strange place.

Results: Volunteers met at West Grove Park to help match donated pajamas with age appropriate books for children in our Orange County Foster Care system. Beautiful cards, made by the young volunteers, were attached to each pair and they were wrapped up with ribbon. We assembled 152 pairs of pajamas and books. We had a few donations come in after the event which gave us a grand total of 160 beautifully wrapped pajamas and books.

THANK YOU to every single person who played a part in making this happen. Donating, collecting, volunteering etc. The community came together to make this event a success.

For more pictures from this event please visit: https://www.facebook.com/Kristis-Hope-629137777168412/

2nd Annual Christmas Stockings

Overview: Our men and women serving our country outside our borders, in foreign lands, many putting their lives on the line every day, desire the same things you do during the holidays. We can’t bring them all home, but we can send a piece of Christmas to them and lovingly remind them that America has not forgotten them.

Objective: Kristi’s Hope partnered with the community to collect Christmas stockings and stocking stuffers to fill and ship off to deployed troops. We also had several classrooms and girl-scout troops volunteer their time to create pictures/letters/cards to include in the stockings.

Result: For about 3 weeks donations were dropped off and volunteers started RSVP’ing to help fill the stockings. On Saturday November 21st local volunteers met at the park to fill 382 stockings with donated items such as hygiene products, fun snacks, healthy snacks, entertainment items like puzzles, books, games etc. and several letters/cards drawings thanking the soldiers for their service/sacrifice.

On Monday November 23rd the stockings were boxed up and ready to ship, but we ran into a hick up. The gal who we were working with at Operation Give passed away and no one was ready to fill in her spot and get the packages shipped out. We frantically reached out to the community for help and a volunteer named Cheryl from The American Legion in Newport Beach stepped up and agreed to take the stockings. We were able to get some shipped off to deployed troops, some were given to local Marines who are stationed far away from family this holiday season and some where given to Wounded Warrior Barracks.

Here is one of the thank you letters we received:
“... As a former Marine, I have contacts at Camp Pendleton. The rest was heart warming. We delivered the boxes to the 5th Marines yesterday. Some are also going to the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp Pendleton. We were surprised at the number of stockings as well as the quality of the contents. The Marines were very happy as this kind gesture will let many of our young warriors know that people are thinking of them at this very special time of year. I salute you and others involved. It is obvious a great deal of effort went into it. “



Here are some additional photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.914104112005109.1073741841.629137777168412&type=1&hc_location=ufi

Hope for the Homeless

OVERVIEW: “Everybody who is homeless is not mentally ill, or alcoholics or drug addicts,” Councilman Joe Carchio said. “They live behind grocery stores, they live in their cars, they stay at friends' houses on couches. There are women with children that are living in motels.”

Although we are enjoying the nice hot summer, colder nights are approaching (El Nino) and we are going to start collecting items so we can make a difference in someone’s life! In many lives!

OBJECTIVE: Kristi’s Hope teamed up with Howdy's Homeless Helpers to provide necessities to the local homeless men, women & children in Huntington Beach, CA by reaching out and asking for donations with the goal of filling zip lock bags with necessities to be handed out to the local homeless population in and around Huntington Beach.

RESULT: We collected donations such as granola bars, bottled water, hand sanitzer, tooth brushes and toothpaste, deodorant, crackers, trail mix, ponchos and tarps etc.

Saturday October 3rd, 2015 we gathered with volunteers to create the blessing bags by filling the zip lock baggies with the donated items. 200 Blessing bags and 30 tarps were then delivered to Howdy’s Homeless Helpers to be passed out around the community.

Backpacks with a Purpose

OVERVIEW: As a mom, I know how important it is to me to make sure my kids have everything that they need (not want, NEED) and I can not imagine how hard it must be for single, homeless moms struggling to survive and provide for their kids. The families supported by Colette's Children's Home are real live people, struggling from abuse, economical crises etc. and they are trying to get their feet back on the ground. 

Orange County Community Report (2006) stated that Orange County had the second highest rate of homelessness per capita in the entire United States next to Detroit, MI. As Orange County begins to emerge from the lingering recession, the 2012 report still states that per capita income is down, cost of living is high, and over all business climate measures are weak.

Single mothers are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Many of these homeless single mothers lack the education and skills necessary to become self sufficient. The significance of this problem is that a continuous cycle of homelessness may continue through generations if it is not ended through education and skills to maintain self sufficiency in the community. Colette’s Children’s Home works with homeless women and children to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent housing. Kristi's Hope really like's that they also provide the life skills needed to secure gainful employment, healthy eating, parenting skills, relapse prevention and conflict resolution.

OBJECTIVE:  We designated a couple of weeks towards collecting as many back pack and school supply donations as possible with the goal of preparing the children living at this shelter to go back to school, ready to learn!


RESULT: We had several generous people drop off back packs and school supplies. We were also blessed with the support of Mama’s Place and Thirty One with Samira. Mama’s Place in Huntington Beach offered their store as a drop off location for donations and even offered the chance to win a gift certificate to the store for every donation that was dropped off! Congrats to the lucky winner!! Samira with Thirty One generously offered her commission to fill each insulated lunch box that was purchased/donated with school supplies.  

                           

On Thursday August 13^th, we delivered 40 backpacks filled with pencils, pens, crayons, glue sticks, paper, folders, erasers, calculators, rulers etc… and 15 lunch boxes to Colette’s Children’s Home.

Sweet Cases for Foster Care

OVERVIEW: In 2013 58,699 children entered foster care in California. More specifically 2,388 children entered foster care in Orange County. When children enter foster care, they usually get trash bags to move their few belongings in. Join us to help STOP this in our local community.

The foster care system can be a confusing and sometimes disheartening place, but through our efforts we strive to give foster children a brighter future, a sense of normalcy and belonging. 

OBJECTIVE: Kristi's Hope teamed up with Together We Rise  and created a fundraising page with hopes of raising money to put towards "Sweet Cases" which would then be handed out to children entering foster care. They will use these bags to take their belongings in rather than trash bags. 

RESULT: We raised money for SWEET CASES and collected over $500 in donations! Each sweet case costs $20.00 and includes a Duffel Bag, Hygiene Kit, Blanket, Coloring Books and Crayons. We also received donations of night lights and sidewalk chalk to include in each bag. We the gathered volunteers together and decorated each bag with fun pictures the children will love. 

The following week all the Sweet Cases will be delivered to a local foster care agency so they can be distributed to the children entering foster care. 

Military Care Packages in Honor of National Military Appreciation Month

Overview:  To call life difficult on base in Afghanistan or Iraq means little as we sit in Orange County wondering if we’ll make dinner tonight or get takeout. The landscape is nothing but dirt and rocks. Temperatures will soon be soaring above 120۫. And then there’s the war, a war in which suicide bombers or hidden explosives kill without warning. Many of us push aside the hardships our troops face – or forget about them entirely. Not Kristi’s Hope! Relying on only donations and the kindness of strangers and supporters we work hard to remind you about their sacrifices. We work hard to show our appreciation.

Objective: Congress designated May as National Military Appreciation Month in 1999 to ensure the nation was given the opportunity to publicly demonstrate their appreciation for the sacrifices and successes made by our service members - past and present. Kristi's Hope has teamed up with Operation Troop Support and invited volunteers to join us in putting together care packages for our deployed troops! 

Result: For a few weeks donations were dropped off and volunteers started RSVP’ing to help fill the care packages. On May 2^nd volunteers met at the park to fill 105 packages with donated items such as hygiene products, fun snacks,healthy snacks, entertainment items like puzzles, books, magazines etc.children created letters/cards drawings thanking the soldiers for their service/sacrifice and at least one was included in each package.

NOTE: A special thank you to Critical Cords for their generous donation of 100 bracelets for the troops. One was included in each bag. Also, a special thank you to Marlene Blaue who donated a bunch of items from her Marine Care package project in which she has shipped off well over 2,500 care packages.

On Wednesday May 6th the packages were boxed up and shipped out to Operation Give based out of Salt Lake City, UT. They will take the packages and send them to individual troops who are deployed across the world.