Christmas for the Munchkins 2016 - Part 1

Again this year it took a village to make Christmas for 20 children in need. This Christmas the village had grown & the Munchkins were showered with even more toys, books, shoes and clothes.  :)

My apologies for this being so late. I had lost the connection to entering this blog and for three weeks was trying to figure out how to get back on with no success.  Google's blog doesn't have a phone number to call, so I was going around in circles until my dear neighbor, Danny, figured it out for me.   Thank you Danny !!  :)  I still have trouble to get on it, since it seems quite complicated to get to this very point where I can make entries.  :o

To begin with I began the fundraising in November to  let friends and supporters know to keep this project in mind once more.  Then I needed to get all the Wish Lists ready and distributed to the parents for the sizes, wishes for toys, etc.  That information is always a little slow to get back from the families, especially when everyone is ready to go.  :)

As soon as I got all the Wish Lists together I distributed them to all the people who wanted to help.
Some I mailed, some I delivered and some of course I used for the clothes and the shoes I went to purchase for the children once the donation started coming in.

First to respond were the wonderful nurses form the TMC NICU (Natal ICU). Pat B. was really excited to share the wish lists with her staff & to get going with this huge project.  :)   We had to do everything sooner this year because Christmas fell on a weekend & we needed to wrap the weekend before that already. Pat and her crew were incredibly generous again once more, you can see the bags of many toys and gifts in the pictures once you scroll further down on this blog. Thank you, all you wonderful nurses who participated in the project for these Munchkins and for also helping out with the remaining cash for the food fund for 2017 !!   :)   Your kindness and effort was so appreciated and I wish I could give each of you a great big Thank You Hug !!  :)

A lot of you know that I have a Native American store and a huge website to go with it. One of my book and music suppliers, Four Winds Trading, is near Denver. The wonderful company has helped in the past years with donating books for the Munchkins and in years past they also donated books when I made Christmas for the homeless people here for four years.  I have a new service rep now, Whitney, who is a young woman with a precious little daughter. :) Whitney was so on board and excited with this project and riled up all the employees in the office and the boss too, along with his brother, Kelly, to donate. Kelly even went out to bid on two huge boxes of stuffed toys for the Munchkins to send to us here.  :)  It was so incredible !!   :)
Whitney ended up buying warm jackets, beanies and gloves for most of the children who needed them and mailed them to me. Yes, it does get quite cold here in the desert too.  :)   Kelly got two great big boxes of books together and a few CDs and DVDs also, some he had been saving all year for this. And there were a few games too.  Whitney, you are  an amazing young woman and I am so proud of your teaching your lil' girl how to share and give already !!  :)  I am ever so grateful to all of you at Four Winds Trading and I am sending you big hugs too !!  Hopefully this summer I can give them to you in person when I go to visit my daughter and family there.  :)   Thank you each and everyone !!

My dearest neighbor, Dave, went through all the wish lists and purchased all the movie DVDs for the Munchkins.  Thank you so much Dave, that was quite a job you did and I'm sure the kids were watching them on Christmas Day already.  :)   The parents must have loved you for getting a break to be able to cook the big dinner.   :)   You are such a wonderful and constant support with the whole backpack project and I am ever so grateful to you !!   :)

Speaking of food .... Again this year the kind employees of R&A CPAs wanted to provide the Christmas dinners for the Munchkins and their families. Caitlin was assigned the project by the firm and she did an incredible job !!  :)  And Marshele helped also !!  I was told that there had been set up raffle tickets and that the bosses agreed to have a pie tossed in their faces as the raffle prize.  :)  Oh my goodness, how generous is that of the bosses ??!!  There must have been many laughs along the way.  :)  Caitlin got together quite a bit of money and the bosses matched the amount.  She came to the Christmas party with a huge box of food for each family, containing the whole Christmas meal, which they had to cook themselves.  And each family also received a Fry's grocery gift card for the perishable food.  :)  You will see a picture of one of the boxes in the "Christmas Party" section below. There was also money left over and I was able to put that into the food fund for the rest of the year to make things a little easier along the way with the food each weekend.  :)  Thank you Caitlin and everyone at R&A CPAs for your generosity and your spunk with this project !!  :)   My heart is filled with gratitude for all that you have done for the Munchkins again this year !!   :)

To be continued ....

Christmas for the Munchkins 2016 - Part 2

....  Another one of my awesome children's books suppliers, Dawn Publications, donated a box of children's books and it was so great to have all theses wonderful books for the Munchkins. Reading and learning is so important, especially these days. We need to pump our kids full of positive information so they can grow in the right direction !!  :)   Thank you dearly, Bruce !!  :)

A huge thank you goes to my dear friend Jane A., who this year again contributed a huge amount of help for the whole project !!  :)  Jane you made such an enormous difference once more, it made me cry happy tears !!  I am so humbled with gratitude to and for you !!  :)

Thank you Mr. Bill for helping out again and for providing the space so we could have the lil' Christmas party for the Munchkins again this year.  :)  You are always supporting me so kindly with this project and throughout the year too !!  :)

Thank you Miss Blanca for helping me on your end, the schools end !!  And for working things out so things could run smooth !!  :)   And for your patience with my pushing everybody to respond with filling out the wish lists. :) Thank you Miss Minnie for your help with the wish lists too!!  :)

Thank you Miss Maggie for all the fun and adorable face paintings you did for the Munchkins during the Christmas party !!  You are a wonderful artist and very creative !!  :)   Starr, Tricia & Carl thank you for helping at the party also, I appreciate you so much !!   :)

I will write about the wrapping of the presents, under that heading further down on this blog along with all the wrapping pictures.

I would like to give a thank you shout-out to Payless Shoes !!  They were so kind to give me a 25% discount on all the shoes for the Munchkins, which made quite a big difference on 20 pairs.  :)

Thank you Breanna & your Angel daughter for donating boxes of Girl Scout cookies for the Christmas party !!   :)   And Angel's Girl Scout Troop for donating lots of food for the on-going backpacks !!   :)  I am very grateful for the help you all gave !!

Thank you to the wonderful ladies of the St. Joseph's Rosary Makers Club who got together a lot of food and contributed it for the weekend backpacks.  Thank you Ladies and thank you so much dear Elena for pulling it all together and delivering it here !!  :)   I go through a lot of food each weekend, providing roughly 70 - 80 meals each time. You all are awesome !!  :)

Pat B. thank you for sending all those Christmas cards to use and all the little stocking stuffers !! They were really cute and were distributed quickly !!   :)

Some people wanted to sponsor a child or two for an outfit and big my thank yous go to Wendy & Gopal, Maggie D., Blanca, Bill & Iris, Dana A., and Kim R.,  Wendy & Gopal, thank you in addition, for all the food you donated for the weekend meals !!  :)  :)   Marian B. sponsored 10 sets of PJs and or nighties.  I am so grateful for your kind help !!  :)

I purchased the rest of all the brand new outfits and each child also received new P.J.s for Christmas, and new shoes, most of them with their favorite characters on them.  :)   I wish I could have been able to watch each child when they opened all their presents, with their little shining faces !!  :)   I can only imagine !!  :)

Then there were all the cookie bakers, Marian & George, Carolyn T., Danny, Cheryl C., and Sarah W., thank you so much for the awesome treats for the kids !!  :)   And Jhan's fudge, was the big hit again this year, thank you my sweet friend !!  :)   Thank you also for Nicole M. for putting together the cute candy bags once more !!  :)  And thank you dear Dave for purchasing a lot of candy for more candy bags and for the party !!  :)

A great big thank you goes to all the people who donated funds for the Munchkins Christmas and what was left-over I transferred into the weekly food fund.  :)  Many thanks from all my heart goes to George & Marian, Carolyn T., Nan F., Catherine P. in Illinois, Mark & Patty B., Amy & Rich C., Ulysses, Maggie D., K.C., Audrey H., Karen & Eddy R. from Kansas, Elizabeth & Alfred F., also in Kansas, Jhan C., Martha F., Cheryl C., Christine J. from the Navajo Reservation, Andy D. from Washington State, and Martin M. from Colorado. Thank you, thank you, thank you each and everyone of you !!   :)

You all showed that Kindness lives all around us and that it is truly alive. And that when we open our hearts and all help together we can truly take care of each other !!  Thank you all for coming through for the Munchkins and their parents who needed help this Christmas !!  :)   I'm wrapping my arms around each and everyone of you with lots of Love and so much Gratitude !!  :)

Please scroll down to all the other entries and the many pictures that are relevant to this Christmas for the Munchkins.  You might have to click on "Older Entries" to get to see the whole event and all the rest of the pictures too.  :)

Many Blessings to each and everyone of you and once more a great big Thank You to you all !!   :)

Karin