On December 21 several small organizations came together to make a huge impact! Together Kevin Riley Foundation of Hope , Grace & Mercy Ministries , Moments Events and Catering and Love to NIC , and Family Promise Northern Shenandoah Valley United for Minnie's Motel Christmas! An amazing event for children facing homelessness and their families. With over 100 attendees and another probably 50+ volunteers memories were made, smiles were shared and kindness was shown. A few hiccups in the road but a beautiful day in the end.
Making a post like this is risky because we never want to miss someone or make someone feel left out. If I miss something I do apologize in advance.
Huge thank you to Robin Russell for working with her families to attend and the work she did behind the scenes to gather Christmas gifts and do pick ups of donations. Lynnette Mason for beautiful decorations, Bryon Breon Johnson for providing music and mic, Bryant Harper for driving the Grace and Mercy bus to pick up families whom didn't have transportation. Holly Roberts and Brittany Artis for a beautiful delicious dinner and drinks. Costco for dessert in the form of cakes (chocolate and vanilla). Crumbl Cookies of Winchester who ensured every attendee received their own cookie. What a treat for families. Tammi Lynne Cooke Mountain View Christian Academy who made 106 hand made Christmas cards which were placed at every place setting. Narla Carlson Breithaupt who put together our silverware sets to make them a little fancy and pretty for our place settings. Melissa Marie who made our table numbers. Winchester Virginia Eagles Club 824 for the use of their bingo hall , tables and chairs.
Angela Turner Thorn and The Gathering Church of Virginia for the Hot Coco Bar. Wonder Sweets and Fay McCloud for the children's craft which was decorated their own cookie. Lilyan Shearer as Minnie Mouse and Mason Rinker as Mickey. They make a wonderful team and we didn't tell Lily Mason was coming it was a complete surprise.
Also don't wanna forget our Volunteers and donors. Thank you to Lauren Nicole Calvert for painting faces which the children loved and was so popular. We were able to borrow supplies which we so appreciate as well for Lauren to use.
Thank you to all the volunteers who baked cookies, made goodies bags, donated blankets or collected blankets, everyone who donated gift cards so families could purchase holiday groceries! . Special thank you to all those in our community who signed up to serve the meal, you provided an amazing experience for the families giving them a full sit down dinner experience. Our warmest thanks to you.
Thank you to the Winchester Star for covering this once a year event hosted to give Christmas magic.
Also thank you to our Volunteer Santa arranged also by Brittany Artis. Can't forget The Mascot Bros who attended for the second year and are always a crowd favorite. Also to my family for jumping in wherever needed and doing a lot of the running around behind the scenes To-Do's.
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