for the kids! 2020

Every December since 2013, we have held an annual Holiday Fundraiser supporting children and families staying at the Banner Children’s Diamond Children’s Center over Christmas. Since its inception in 2013, our For the Kids! fundraiser has raised over $15,000 for gifts for hundreds of children and family members staying at the hospital.

Why do we call it “for the kids!”?

During our very first Holiday Fundraiser at Gentle Ben’s in 2013, a certain U of A Basketball player (who will remain nameless, but his name rhymes with E.J. McDonald), had a drink with us and proclaimed during his toast that it was “For the Kids!”. The name stuck and we have called it For the Kids! ever since.

THE PROCESS

Our For the Kids! Fundraiser takes place every year around mid-December when we throw a massive holiday party at Gentle Ben’s Brewery. After the party, Gentle Ben’s donates a portion of the night’s sales to our fundraiser. We also host a raffle, and last year we incorporated a basketball tournament to help raise funds. We then take those funds and purchase specific gifts for children and families at the Diamond Children’s Center.

The Wish Lists

This is the one thing that separates us from every other group or organization that donates to the Diamond Children’s Center around Christmas. Before we pass out gifts to children and families at the hospital, a couple reps from A Light Network will meet with patients and families to get their wish lists or get lists of items that the families really need to help them get by during the Holidays. Then the next day, we purchase everything we can, wrap it, and then take it back to the hospital to pass everything out in person. We don’t tell the patients or the families that we plan on getting those gifts, so when we arrive back at the hospital the next day, they are completely surprised

 As fun as the Holiday Party, basketball tournament and fundraising process can be, the best part of this fundraiser every year is passing out everything and seeing the children’s faces when they get the gifts and items that they really wanted for Christmas.

the Effect of covid-19

Just like every other nonprofit in 2020, we have had to change the way we conduct our day to day operations and have had to rethink everything from the ground up. Our For the Kids! Holiday Fundraiser has always been our biggest event of the year, but just like everything else this year, we had to change the way it was run.

This year, we felt that the most responsible option was to cancel our For the Kids! Holiday Party at Gentle Ben’s, and move all fundraising online. Regarding the gift giveaway at Diamond Children’s, due to the restrictions on visitors at the hospital, we will not be able to meet with the children and families to get wish lists, and we will not be able to pass out the gifts directly. Instead, we have been working with Child Life Managers at Diamond Children’s, and they will get the wish lists for us. We will then purchase everything we can, and return back to the hospital with everything wrapped, and give the gifts to the Child Life Managers for distribution. Normally, we would also have the support of the Salpointe Catholic Women’s Basketball Program, where they would help shop and wrap gifts with us, but again, due to group and visitor restriction, we will not have their assistance this year.

COVID-19 has changed the way we are doing things, but we believe that this year more than ever, patients and families staying at Diamond Children’s need the extra support from us, so there’s no way we’re going to let them down.

The new plan for 2020

This Friday, December 18th, we will receive the wish lists from the Child Life Managers, and then on Saturday we will purchase those gifts for the hospital. We will then drop the gifts off at the hospital next Monday morning, just a few days before Christmas.

 We want to spread some light in the world during these dark times. Join us. #beasource

If you are interested in participating in the shopping for or wrapping of gifts, please contact:

chris@alightnetwork.com

If you would like to make a donation to our For the Kids! Holiday Fundraiser, please visit the link below:

100% all donation will go directly towards the purchase of gifts for children and families at the Banner Children’s Diamond Children’s Center.

Below: photos from our For the Kids! Diamond Children’s Gift Giveaways from 2013 - 2019