Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Love, Olivia Holiday Campaigns - November 2009

The month of November was extremely busy for Love, Olivia. We held fundraising events at 3 different venues as well as continued to campaign for the Christmas Ornaments and Holiday Cheer Baskets. The following is a summary of November’s activity:

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 – Rocklin MOM’S Christmas Boutique
- The boutique was hopping!! Lots of foot traffic and huge hearts!! We sold clothing and accessories to further benefit special needs families. However, our efforts were focused on distributing the ornaments on the Christmas tree.

The boutique Christmas tree contained 60 ornaments representing the Christmas wishes of children with cancer and other severe illnesses and disabilities. Love, Olivia coordinated obtaining the children’s wishes with Easter Seals, Placer County of Ed, an Alta Regional Occupational Therapist, and Michelle Chunn heading up the “Adopt a Cancer Child for Christmas Program”. We are happy to say all the ornaments were taken either at the boutique or soon thereafter!! Meaning that all 60 children will receive their Christmas wish!! The Christmas presents are currently being received and distributed to these children.

Friday, November 13, 2009 – WarmLine Family Resource Center – We held a holiday sale for special needs families at WarmLine in Roseville. It wasn’t a big selling day for Love, Olivia, but we made a connection with a special parent who was very supportive of the Love, Olivia efforts. We hope that we can provide further services and support to families through WarmLine.

Saturday, November 21, 2009 – Easter Seals – Easter Seals was extremely accommodating by offering Love, Olivia to utilize its training facility for a Saturday sale. We arrived bright and early. It was a spacious facility - lots of room to display Love, Olivia clothing, toys, shoes, books, etc.

We sold mostly clothes, but we made further connections in our community. Additionally, we received donations from very gracious individuals. The highlight of the day came towards the end of the sale - when a very kind and astute woman gently grabbed my hand and with her teary eyes said to me…
“You are blessing many. You too will be blessed”. Her words touched my soul and left me speechless. I graciously thanked her.

Cheesecake Sales Supporting Love, Olivia Efforts!!
In addition to the above events, we were very surprised to receive donation checks from Columbus, Ohio for our Holiday Cheer Basket campaign.

One of our family members works at a Flying J restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. In early November, this particular Flying J’s had an over abundant amount of Cheesecakes. The waiters and waitresses were told that the cheesecakes must sell within a couple of days. The sales were not going well until our family member came up with an idea…

She rallied up the waiters and waitresses to ask if they would be willing to donate their tips to Love, Olivia if their table bought a piece of cheesecake. They loved the idea and began to advise customers of the arrangement. The cheesecake slices began selling! Some customers bought whole cheesecakes verses a slice! Within a day, all of the cheesecakes were sold! The manager was so impressed with their efforts that he gave a donation to Love, Olivia from the restaurant. We were so surprised when we received the donation checks!!

We are very, very grateful to the community, our family, friends, neighbors, and many others who have supported our efforts thus far. Thank you for your gracious donations of clothing, toys, books, accessories, cash donations, and gift cards. Your thoughtfulness will benefit many special needs children and their families.

WE ARE HAPPY TO REPORT THAT 60+ CHILDREN WILL RECEIVE THEIR CHRISTMAS WISHES THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. ADDITIONALLY, 5 SPECIAL NEEDS FAMILIES ARE RECEIVING LOVE, OLIVIA HOLIDAY CHEER BASKETS!!

We wish everyone very HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

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