There’s no question that 2020 was a difficult year for so many. We were so excited to finish the year on a high note with our first annual Sugar Plum Fairies Initiative which brought the magic of Christmas to families all over the West Valley. On October 20th the HOT board approved the initiative and in less than 8 weeks we were delivering gifts. It was certainly a whirlwind and we couldn’t have done it without the generosity of our HOT family – who were all quick to donate their time and money to this initiative.

The process started with nominations where 15 school administrators and teachers submitted stories for over 30 families. Our vetting committee read each of the nominations and determined the families that were chosen.

While nominations were coming in, the presents, stockings, and gift basket teams were starting to come together. Volunteers formed small, COVID-friendly teams to purchase gifts for the family they selected; some groups went above and beyond and adopted two families for the season. Each child received a plethora of gifts, including clothes, shoes, toys, and a special Christmas dress up outfit. The Stockings team made a personalized stocking for each child and the Gift Baskets team created a Christmas Eve basket for each family. After all the gifts were purchased, the Gift Wrapping team organized the huge effort to get everything wrapped and ready for delivery.

Gifts were delivered directly to the families and children with the help of the school administrators and teachers that nominated the selected families. During the deliveries, the children were encouraged to open their first gift, which included their dress up clothes for the Christmas season. Families were then presented with their Christmas Eve basket, a $200 grocery gift card, and the rest of the presents to be opened on Christmas. It was a magical experience to see the kid’s eyes light up when they saw the boxes and boxes of presents.

Thank you again to all of the donations from the corporations and individuals in the West Valley who made this initiative possible. Due to their donations we were able to increase the initial budget of 6 families to 17 and increase the grocery gift cards from $100 per family to $200 per family. And thank you to the volunteers who donated their time to make this initiative a success – check out the bottom of this page for a full list of donors and volunteers. All of the pictures from this initiative have been posted to our Facebook page.

Together we are making a difference!