Help a child build holiday memories to last a lifetime.
Holiday Heroes provide gifts to local children and families participating in Youth Villages’ programs. Generous donors and shoppers like YOU enable us to fulfill the wish lists of more than 2,200 Middle Tennessee youth and children.
Your family, company, civic or religious group can bring children and youth near you a holiday they will always remember! All donations will help the children we serve in Middle Tennessee and the Nashville area.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Shop
- Each child fills out a wish list of three gifts.
- Heroes sponsor a child or sibling group ($100-$150 per child)
- Heroes shop for the items on the wish list (new gifts only)
- Please focus on the three wishes (it is what the child is hoping for)
- Bundle the unwrapped gifts and wish list in a clear bag
- Deliver the gifts no later than Friday, Dec. 6 to DeVry Building
Sponsor
- $5,000 – Sponsor youth who enter our care days before holiday break
- $3,000 – Sponsor the LifeSet holiday party
- $1,000 – Sponsor a Nashville group home holiday party
- $500 – Sponsor the wish lists for a sibling group
- $100 – Sponsor a wish list for a child
Other Ways to Participate
- Stuff stockings: We love to gift stockings to our teenage youth filled with small gifts, toiletries and gift cards. Gather your supplies and spend time together as a family or group stuffing stockings, then deliver them to the address below.
- Host a gift drive: Want to amplify your support for Holiday Heroes? Organize a gift drive to help collect our most requested items from friends or coworkers. This is a great way to get others involved! Contact Lyndsay to learn more.
Contact Lyndsay Wilkinson at Lyndsay.Wilkinson@YouthVillages.org or at 615-250-7323
Deadline:
Friday, Dec. 6
Drop-off:
DeVry Building (8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.)
3343 Perimeter Hill Drive, Suite 300
Nashville, TN 37211
Contact:
Sponsorship
Email: Lyndsay Wilkinson
615-250-7323
Shop
Email: Julie Abbott
615-250-7266
*Sponsors for Holiday Heroes
This holiday season, local company Alternative Solutions will match all financial gifts to the Holiday Heroes campaign. Give today and double your impact this holiday season!
Alternative Solutions provides Salesforce business consulting, CRM project management and IT problem-solving for major organizations worldwide. At Alternative, our associates are committed to YOUR business. Our primary areas of expertise is Salesforce.com, including strategic planning and business process redesign.
“Youth Villages fills a need in our community for children during a period when they are at their most vulnerable. At Alternative Solutions we feel strongly in supporting an organization that provides a caring and safe environment to help these young people cope and find supportive ways to continue moving forward. Youth Villages provides not only foster care services, but their involvement in shaping young lives for their professional journeys begins at the foster level as well. Their services & support reach beyond the children to families in need also. Organizations like Youth Villages need community support and we are happy to partner with them. They help keep us grounded and remind us that the hands that too many children are dealt aren’t fair and they need a soft place to land.”
-Tom Jones, Managing Director Alternative Solutions Consulting
Social News
Major thanks to Theresa Vargas and Washington Post for shedding light on the need for #COVID19 relief for youth aging out of our foster care system. Special thanks to @FosterClub and @DCCFSA too! #UpChafee #fostersafety
www.washingtonpost.com
Deshala Royster was 16 when she ended up in D.C.’s foster care system.Young people who turn 18 in foster care are resilient and want to become successful adults. Zoe has had many hardships, but when faced with leaving the foster care system without a plan for the future or solid support, he knew he needed help.
“LifeSet has allowed me to network and make connections with other youth, similar to me and from completely different walks of life,” Zoe said. “The program has given me tremendous support and guidance and has kept me motivated to reaching my goals.” Read Zoe's Story:
www.youthvillages.org/through-lifeset-and-yvscholars-zoe-builds-his-future/
Through LifeSet and YVScholars, Zoe builds his future | Youth Villages
www.youthvillages.org
Young people who turn 18 in foster care are resilient and want to become successful adults. Zoe, entered state custody at 14 years old and moved around a lot before “aging out.” “I never really unpacked my clothing because I moved so much. I kept it in whatever bag I could find,” he says.“I'm really just trying to take everything that I’ve been through to make a difference in other people’s lives and make it mean something.”
Reagan is an amazing young person who is using her journey of entering and aging out of foster care to give light and hope to youth in her foster care support group. Learn more about Reagan's story:
www.youthvillages.org/you-are-not-alone-foster-care/
You Are Not Alone: Foster care | Youth Villages
www.youthvillages.org
Reagan tells WBIR News in Knoxville, TN about her journey entering and aging out of foster care. She’s now 19, co-president of a foster care support group, and on her way to study social work at the University of Tennessee.How inspiring! Thank you Reagan!
We love to encourage our youth to express themselves in therapeutic ways like singing! The Wallace girls group home in Nashville was selected by the Nashville Film Festival again this year to partner for the Livin’ Reel project which connects local artists with at-risk youth to create an original piece of art. This year, the Wallace girls and local artists created an original song called “You’re Not Alone” and the song was premiered at the Nashville Film Festival’s virtual event this week.
Teens in Nashville group home write song about their experience
www.wsmv.com
A group of teen-aged girls in foster care wrote a song in helps of changing their lives.Beautiful song ladies. You all sounded amazing
We have been named a finalist for Clarksvillenow.com Clarksville’s Best in the Nonprofit Organization Category. You can help us win by making a donation on our GoFundMe page before this Friday, Oct. 9th. The winner will receive $24,000 in advertising to help recruit foster parents across Tennessee!
Youth Villages of Clarksville, Tennessee, organized by Lyndsay Wilkinson
www.gofundme.com
As a finalist for the Clarksville's Best contest, we have the opportunity t… Lyndsay Wilkinson needs your support for Youth Villages of Clarksville, Tennessee
