Sugar Plum Fairies
Sugar Plum Fairies returned in 2021 to complete our 2nd annual program, providing help and hope to 101 children across 38 families in the West Valley.
Our volunteer teams started in early September working with local school districts and other civic groups to find the kids that needed our help the most. 100% of the families selected for the program qualified under the Arizona QCO requirements, meaning they were low income, had a chronic illness in the family, or had a disability in the family.
Once the families were selected, our gift teams went off running, making sure we had personalized gifts for each child. Every child in the program received:
- Multiple daily wear outfits
- A dress up holiday outfit
- Matching Christmas pajamas
- Shoes, socks & underwear
- A personalized toy based on their wishlist
- A stocking filled with hygiene essentials (and a bit of fun!)
Each family also received a Christmas Eve basket with food and activities for the family to do together.
The most memorable experience was picking up the presents and taking pictures with Mrs. Claus. The kids have never had a beautiful experience like this before. It is a moment to cherish forever.
You made it possible for Christmas for me and my son. We joined as a family and thoroughly enjoyed all the gifts and used the gift card for Christmas dinner. We did not expect this and it was a great help to our family – thank you very much for everything.
I was blown away by how many gifts came out of that van when the back opened up to the unsuspecting Grandmother waiting to receive just a few gifts for her grandchildren for Christmas.
The Sugar Plum Fairies floated in like angels to create sweet memories for kiddos who were overjoyed with all of the gifts and beautiful packages.
We are so grateful for your recent donation to some of our school’s families. Your generosity brought much needed holiday joy to our students. Thank you for all that you do for the LESD community.
In our house Christmas is about giving, so contributing to the Sugar Plum Fairies was a perfect avenue for us with HOT as a wonderful conduit.
I have to say that this really was an unforgettable experience. The fact that it was personalized and the attention to detail was just amazing. I was humbled to receive the support and generosity from the Sugar Plum Fairies. It brought tears to my eyes and I get emotional just thinking about it.
Myself and two other team members were lucky enough to meet the family and deliver their gifts in person. What a heart warming experience that was! The children were so polite and the parents so grateful.
Spent
Children Helped
Volunteers
Toys Donated
Gifts Wrapped
At HOT, we are always looking to improve our program to ensure our volunteers love what they are doing and have fun! Based on feedback from our inaugural program in 2020, we made a couple changes.
The first was to split our shopping volunteers into more specified teams. Instead of just one shopping team, we created three – one for pajamas, one for toys, and one for apparel. This worked wonderfully and we are already looking forward to next year to continue this trend and have more targeted teams.
Second, since we received our QCO qualification since the last Sugar Plum Fairies, we had to rethink how we were going to purchase and gift toys. Our Toy Team came up with the idea to do an online toy drive through an Amazon Wish List. Our donors loved this idea and ALL of the toys were purchased in just 2. days!!
Finally, we made the delivery process a magical experience with the help of Gina Schmitz at Eliseo C. Felix Elementary School. We were able to set up a full Christmas scene where the kids met Santa and Mrs. Claus, opened a special Open Now gift, and received the rest of their presents to put under their Christmas tree.
