A tradition is turning to the Tampa area that promises to deliver holiday joy to thousands of children and their families this year.
One Hope United is gearing up with its Holiday Hope Express to sweep through the region. The event run by the nonprofit organization will continue through Dec. 12 and seeks to provide a gift drive that will end up providing holiday tidings to as many as 10,000 children and families. One Hope United is a foster care and adoption services agency for the Tampa Bay area.
The Holiday Hope Express is largely a toy drive for children. But One Hope United officials try to encourage employers in the Tampa Bay area to organize their own drives in their workplace or community and then deliver the gifts that are raised to central donation points for One Hope United.
Local businesses can also make monetary donations. They or their employees can go online to make the funding gifts.
“Every toy makes a difference,” said Damon Cates, President and CEO of One Hope United. “The Holiday Hope Express is a way for our community to come together and brighten the holidays for children who need it most.”
One Hope United provides resource support for businesses wanting to establish their own internal drives they can contribute the nonprofit. The Holiday Hope Express website provides resource support links such as the “Hope Conductor Toolkit” that explains how each company can start their own campaign for a toy drive.
The nonprofit provides support for social media campaigns, gift lists and flyers for advertising among other support material. One Hope United also advises local companies to wrap up their drives by Dec. 5 and then the goods will be delivered to the nonprofit by Dec. 12. They recommend a shopping budget for each child to range from $25 to $50.
The deliveries to One Hope United will take place at 6800 North Dale Mabry Highway, Suite 164, in Tampa. The so-called “Santa’s Helper” will be Kirby Dameron who will coordinate the delivery of the donated toys from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.
