Children's Holiday Fund

Children's holiday fund

Over the past decade, the Peninsula Community Foundation has administered the Daily Press–Ferguson Holiday Fund. This fund was established in 1929, when officials of the newspaper, concerned about the plight of the poor and jobless, created a Stocking Fund “for children of the poor”. By 1933, when the nation was mired in the Great Depression, the fund assisted families with food, clothing and fuel during the winter holidays. The fund has provided toys, clothing and food for hundreds of thousands of needy children and families on the Peninsula. In 2019, after 90 years, the Daily Press decided to dissolve the Peninsula based Holiday Fund.

In 2020, PCF continued this inspiring tradition by establishing the Children's Holiday Fund to assist the organizations on the Peninsula serving children and families.

Now more than ever, our local non-profits need funding during the holidays to continue their programs. With the groundswell of generosity around this remarkable effort this year, the Foundation is encouraged to continue managing and promoting this Fund to provide critical services and programming year round to support those deserving families and their children living in our community. Here are just a few examples of the impact your gifts to the 2020 Children's Holiday Fund campaign have made:

2020 children's holiday fund impact grants

thrive peninsula

Thrive Peninsula gave gift cards to parents of underserved children so they could purchase gifts that met their interests and preferences, bringing hope and joy for the little ones.

healthy families partnership

HFP was able to support one of their most critical needs, that of purchasing diapers in all sizes and baby wipes. Each child can go through 12 diapers a day and this is an item that often competes with buying baby food.

downtown hampton child development center

DHCDC was able to increase their book donation program that is focused on improving literacy skills of preschoolers, and building their at-home libraries.

"Thank you so much for the help I received for Christmas. My son was set for heart surgery after Christmas. With knowing this he was down. I didn't have much to give him and the other kids but thanks to Thrive Peninsula and organization y'all made him and my other kids Happy on Christmas Day. Thank you so much for this blessing. God bless y'all."

"This gift card was a blessing this Christmas during these trying times for my family and it allowed me to get what my daughter wanted so badly for Christmas and to see the joy in her eyes when she awoke was a blessing I would like to thank the organization for helping me make my child smile even harder this Christmas."

"Thank you so much for the generous grant for support of our 'diapers and wipes' closet. A variety of sizes and brands were purchased to restock our closet. These items will be given to families in need. It is so critical to have a supply on hand and be able to have the right size at the right time. Our families are always appreciative and relieved when they pick up their diapers. Many of them struggle to afford these items and this donation makes all the difference!"

"We were able to provide books to our children as part of a holiday gift to the families because of your support. The generous grant we received enables us to extend our literacy program into our families’ homes. We are also excited that we will be able to send books home with our children this spring and at the end of the school year thanks to the grant funds we were provided. PCF’s contribution to our program will help ensure our children are ready for kindergarten when they leave us."

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