By Lori Leath Smith
Anyone can be a Holiday Hero when they help those in need in our community. As always during the holiday season, there is an ongoing need for giving or volunteering. Many children don’t have enough food to eat over a weekend, much less over the holidays this time of year. Some just want Santa to visit them. Some have no beds or gifts. Many homeless veterans go without a warm meal all year long.
Okaloosa County has a food insecurity rate of 12.3 percent among children younger than 18 (source: Feeding America), slightly lower than last year, but still too high. Though many families in our area are struggling to get by, we can bless them with an extra boost this holiday season. Fortunately, we are a generous and compassionate community that pulls together for its own. Below are ways you, too, can be a Holiday Hero this season:
One Hopeful Place needs your help. Providing shelter and “hope” for those in dire need—single men, women and veterans with no shelter, medical supplies transportation or basic necessities, One Hopeful Place depends on people in our community. Your support can create a significant ripple effect on the lives of the homeless. Donations to One Hopeful Place do more than provide shelter and meals; they instill hope and open doors to new beginnings. Even a small monthly pledge can significantly impact, helping to keep the lights on and doors open. Visit www.onehopefulplace.org or call 850-586-7879 to help.
It’s that time of year for The Salvation Army. Ready to help you help others with its popular Angel Trees, Angels (children 0-12 years old) are available for adoption beginning November 18th at all the Walmart Stores in Okaloosa and Walton Counties as well as Bass Pro Shop Destin, Ashley Home Furniture Crestview and Ft. Walton, AJ’s on the Bayou in Fort Walton Beach and Chick-fil-a Niceville. Simply pick a tag off a tree and return your Angel’s gifts to any of the above locations or drop off at the Thrift Store, 425 Mary Esther Cutoff, Fort Walton Beach, by December 9th. If your business would like to adopt some Angels, please call Laura Beeman, (850) 243-4531 x20.
Have you ever had to sleep without a bed? Some in our community do. Why not put some sparkle into a child’s holiday this year? A Bed 4 Me invites you to help provide beds for children in Okaloosa and Walton counties this season. $10-$25 Walmart gift cards can purchase pillows, bedding go towards the purchase of a bed. $300 sponsors a full bed kit and helps with operational expenses. A Bed 4 Me has provided beds to thousands of children in our community since 2016. To help, visit abed4me.org where you can donate in any amount.
Food For Thought (FFT) provides year-round programs to bridge the meal gap in the lives of the food-insecure children they serve, but it’s especially needed during the holidays. You can help by sponsoring a family for the holidays. Food for Thought will provide holiday services during Thanksgiving and Christmas school holiday breaks, feeding over 700 families during each holiday, distributing 30,000 pantry staples and more than 11,000 lbs. of produce. Families supported by Food for Thought programs throughout Okaloosa and Walton Counties will be provided food to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal along with food to support their students’ needs while they are out of school for a week, which is about 10 meals they will miss. To enroll, email support@fftfl.org. To volunteer or donate, please visit www.fftfl.org.
At Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center (ECCAC), 1,585 kids were assisted in 2022. This giving season, you can make a child’s Christmas by helping to stock ECCAC’s toy room for families and agency partners to “shop!” Purchase items from ECCAC “wish lists” or shop for items yourself. Contact Hailey@eccac.org to schedule your drop-off and drop off at one of ECCAC’s locations: Niceville Chamber Office, 1055 John Sims Pkwy E, Niceville or Pierce Family ECCAC, 336 College Ave, DeFuniak Springs. eccac.org.
Children in Crisis, our community non-profit charity committed to providing homes and keeping brothers and sisters together, is asking all of the wonderful local Christmas elves to help with their kiddo’s Christmas lists. Simply visit https://a.co/0UDgndl to shop from the Amazon Wish List or scan the QR code! Please deliver your gifts by noon on Dec. 22 to 1000 Luke’s Way, Fort Walton Beach. Call 850-864-4242 or email Info@childrenincrisisFL.org for more information. childrenincrisisfl.org
Each year this season, leadership students from Fort Walton Beach High School (FWBHS) become “heroes” for many parents in our community who have no way to provide a joyful Christmas for their children—10 days of meals, holiday gifts and any other necessities such as utilities and maintenance for families in Okaloosa County. In December, students shop at Walmart to select gifts such as bikes for the children. Donations are also spent on necessities such as bread, butter, milk, eggs and turkeys and even family bills. Through Christmas Connection, you can join these amazing hometown heroes by making a monetary donation for gifts and bills or contributing canned goods and boxed food. $100 provides a holiday package for one child. Simply send your check to FWBHS with “Christmas Connection” written in the memo section. A tax receipt by request can be provided.
The Angel Tree Program, a collaborative effort of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers (SROs) and the OCSO Sheriff’s Star Charity, is in full gear! SROs provide a list of names of children within their schools whose families may be experiencing financial hardship and could benefit from the program. Children fill out a wish list with their SRO and guidance counselor asking for things sucha as bikes, video games, new pajamas or socks. OCSO employees purchase gifts, but you can help by making a monetary donation to help fulfill the wish lists. Since the program began in 2010, more than 1,000 Okaloosa County children have received special deliveries from their SRO before Christmas. To donate, contact Brian Muhlbach, PIO for the Sheriff’s Star Charity, at charity@sheriff-okaloosa.org or visit ocsostarcharity.com.
Fatboys and Holi Indian Restaurant has launched a month-long non-perishable food drive spanning all of its locations, benefitting different local hunger relief organizations throughout the area. The campaign runs now through December 23, 2023. Fatboy’s Miramar Beach and Destin locations as well as Holi’s Miramar Beach location will support Destin Harvest. Patrons are invited to participate in Fatboy’s efforts this holiday season by bringing nonperishable and canned food items to receive 20% off their meal. To make the donation process as convenient as possible, labeled boxes will be placed in each Fatboy’s location for the collection of donated items.
