Rudolph Round-Up 2015 Recap

by Andrea Hagan, Prevention Resource Specialist

December has come and gone and we all here at Heartland hope that you and yours enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy start to the New Year. Throughout much of the last half of 2015, we were busy planning for our 11th Annual Rudolph Round-Up Holiday Toy Drive. Our goal this year was to grant the holiday wishes of at least 1,200 of our local children who were receiving services through the foster care system.

To attain this goal, we reached out to individuals, organizations, businesses, churches, faith communities and schools throughout Hardee, Highlands, and Polk counties to partner with Heartland as donors to ensure children and teens received their three wishes for the holidays. (Phew, that was a lot of reaching out, sharing the need and connecting with old and new friends and partners who were as excited as we were to help make holiday dreams a reality!)

Thanks to the generosity of all the donors who chose to be Rudolph Champions in 2015, contributing financially, purchasing items from children’s wish lists and/or sponsoring one of over 60 toy drives in our community, we were able to not only meet our goal, but exceed it!

We are thrilled to share that holiday wishes were provided for 1410 children through the 2015 Rudolph Round-Up Holiday Toy Drive!

A special thank you goes out to every single donor, volunteer, community partner, case management and Heartland staff that supported and participated in the Rudolph Round-Up Holiday Toy Drive. It is truly wonderful to live in such a generous and supportive community that chooses to make a difference in the lives of children and families.

The continued success of Rudolph Round-Up takes all of us to make it happen.

THANK YOU!