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...