Kids Wish Network recently provided The Haven of Lake and Sumter Counties with a Gift Bank. They have a shelter that houses abused women and their children and they were in desperate need of assistance. Kids Wish Network is always honored to help.

After the delivery of the Gift Bank, we received a survey from this wonderful facility with this quote on it:

“The items sent were greatly needed. Donations have been down this year (probably the economy). Ironically, it seems that when the economy is unstable, domestic violence rates and our client base increases. Our kids in the emergency shelter need things to do to consume their time. It can get very boring and tedious; mothers are usually stressed and depressed. Many needy children (i.e., our outreach kids, as well as our shelter kids) will be made happy during this holiday season due to your generous contribution. Thank you very much!”

This makes me so happy to know that there will be children that ordinarily have nothing can finally have something to call their own. It also makes me feel better that some of the stress and pressure will hopefully be taken off of these mothers.

Barbara Askin
Director of Distribution

Wow, where do I start? What an amazing adventure! I am still on a high from the whole experience! I had planned on blogging every day when away, but this didn’t work out because I had far too much to do there. So, I’m going to try and give you a daily synopsis and hopefully get across the excitement, enthusiasm and magic I experienced during the four days I spent with a lot of really wonderful people.

Day 1: Food City in Kingsport, Tennessee

Following an early flight, I finally arrived in Kingsport, Tennessee. What an amazing sight to see when we pulled into the car park at their local Food City. All I could see was mountains of toys, our toys! This packing event has been a tradition in these parts for many years now and they knew exactly what they were doing. What wonderful people! To the “uneducated eye” it might appear chaotic but boy did they have a system going. We packed 5,000 gift bags for boys and girls in approx. 3 hours. I felt so proud to see all the wonderful toys that KWN donated being packed into these Santa Train Gift Bags.

People were constantly thanking me, as the KWN representative, and complimenting us on the size of our donation and the wonderful variety of quality toys this year. Jamie from Food City, who has been involved in this event for the past seven years, said that donations were so low this year that without our donation, they would have been in big trouble. Apart from packing toys, Food City also had volunteers packing their donated food items for the train. There were a lot of smiles and laughter and everywhere there was an overall “feel good” atmosphere. It was dark when we finally came up for air after the job was done. It was an amazing thing to see everyone come together for this wonderful holiday tradition with a common goal: to reach out to the less fortunate, in particular the children and families of the Appalachians, and make their holidays a little brighter.

Stay tuned for Day 2…

Ashley
Distribution Department

Talk about adorable! We received a total of ten pallets of the cutest, most huggable puppets from Folkmanis! These plush puppets are designed so that it really looks as if the little white bunny is coming right out of the hat. They are so soft and perfect for a large range of ages! A great big huge thanks to our friends and faithful donors ant Folkmanis!

Many children are going to be smiling and enjoying these wonderful creative puppets!

Barbara Askin
Director of Distribution

All work and no play makes Ashley a dull girl…No, seriously. I know it sounds like fun, but we will definitely be working!

Kids Wish Network really needs baby items for distribution so next week we’re heading to Vegas for the Annual ABC Kids Expo.

I have no doubt we will meet many, many nice people who will help us out. Keep you fingers crossed, I’ll update you on our return!

Ashley
Distribution Department

Drove to Orlando yesterday to attend “The Gift Show”. We met some really nice people with some really nice stuff our kids would love. I’m excited to see what they donate!!!l

Ashley

Local children from Citrus and Pinellas counties in Florida will be having a blast this Holiday Season regardless of our economic condition. Kids Wish Network is more than excited to be able to give toys and necessities worth $20,000.00 each in retail value to CHIPS, as well as the Citrus County Family Resource Center for the homeless. We are so honored to be able to help them out!

Distribution Department