Every Holiday season I rally my family, friends and business together to do something special for under privileged children. It's important that we all do what we can to help our brothers and sisters out and make our world a better place for all of us, and I ask a fair amount of my friends, family and community year round when it comes to charitable contributions, and I always donate a portion of every sale from my clothing label, Disco Panda, to benefit women and children around the globe. But the Holidays are an especially special time built around love and giving, and those close to me as well as those that purchase from my businesses love to show up in a big way for children during the Holidays. I was so excited to have received hundreds of dollars from friends and family, and have been able to donate hundreds more from sales from Disco Panda, which made it possible to give 20 less fortunate children the Holiday they deserve!
There are so many children that go without any gifts at all
over the Holidays, leaving both the parents and the children heartbroken. I
think of Christmas as a child myself. I
loved the Holiday season- my Christmas tree all lit up, the vintage train that
ran on a track around it and the presents wrapped so beautiful stacked underneath.
And waking up on Christmas morning, looking down from the hallway upstairs into
the living room and seeing all the unwrapped presents waiting for me and my
siblings that Santa had brought us. Santa always answered our letters and our
gift wishes. It breaks my heart to think of all the children that don't have
the happy Holiday I was so fortunate to have. So many children don't receive
anything from Santa and believe that they have not been "good" enough
to make it on Santa's "nice list". I think of them having to go to
school and listen to their friends tell each other excitedly about their new
toys, then having to break the news that they received nothing for the
Holidays.
This year, I worked on Operation Santa through BeAnElf.org-
an incredible operation that adopts letters that underprivileged children have
written to Santa asking. Operation Santa's volunteers, or Elves, fulfill the
children's wishes and ensure that Santa's gifts arrive to their home. In select
areas, the public can also adopt a letter a participating post office, buy the
gifts and bring them back to be delievered the the children's homes. If you
don't have a participating post office in your area, please donate to Be An Elf
to help them continue their amazing work.
I read so many heartbreaking but beautiful letters- 7 year
old Kailee wrote that all she wanted for Xmas was for her baby brother to have
new winter shoes. Camille wrote that she just wanted Santa to bring something
for her mother, who was always sad because she couldn't pay the bills. Tyvonne
had to give up his dog because they couldn't afford to keep him, and just
wanted a stuffed puppy to hold.
I am always so moved and humbled by how brave, resilient, strong & selfless children are, and I am so grateful to be able to bring my family and my businesses together to help give these special babes the Holiday they deserve. I will be thinking about each of them on Christmas morning, opening their dream gifts and reading their personal letters from Santa himself, praising their hard work and compassion and asking them to continue to work hard, reach for the stars and spread love.
I am always so moved and humbled by how brave, resilient, strong & selfless children are, and I am so grateful to be able to bring my family and my businesses together to help give these special babes the Holiday they deserve. I will be thinking about each of them on Christmas morning, opening their dream gifts and reading their personal letters from Santa himself, praising their hard work and compassion and asking them to continue to work hard, reach for the stars and spread love.
Happy Holidays!!
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Awareness
