OUR MISSION
To show the love, support and appreciation of a grateful nation, by providing necessities and comfort items to our military men and women, all over the world, through the continued support and generosity of businesses, individuals and volunteers.
To show the love, support and appreciation of a grateful nation, by providing necessities and comfort items to our military men and women, all over the world, through the continued support and generosity of businesses, individuals and volunteers.
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Who are we
Holiday 4 Heroes was founded in 2007 by Jonette Kessack, owner of Sip and Send. This grassroots effort was started to fill a need to provide comfort and care to out deployed men and women all over the world. We are a group of team members, volunteers and business owners who had a desire to show our military that we remember them and appreciate their sacrifices for us. What do we do What started as a Holiday Program, our first year sending 40 packages, became a Year-Round effort with us now sending over 100 comfort packages each month to our brave military's men and women, in addition to our holiday mission. We have now sent over 15,000 packages in total. |
Additions to the Mission
In 2019, we started our Backpack for Homeless and In-need Veterans Program partnering with the VA and various homeless coalitions. Our back packs are filled with personal care items, high protein snacks and information on where to get help. In 2020, we began distributing bulk food drops to our in-need veterans and their families through the VA.\Food Pantry. In 2021 our local VA Clinic asked us if we could help fill a need in our community. We were asked if we could provide tents and water filtration bottles for our Veteran's who are losing their homes during the current housing crisis.
We did an on-line fund raiser and our community came together to raise enough money to purchase both the tents and drinking water filtration bottles. |
Mission Make Merry As the mission evolves, Holiday 4 Heroes, supports our military families at home by giving them a Christmas filled with joy and less worries. Every year we provide a Merrier Christmas for local families, who may be going through some difficult times. The first year we started with 3 families. Fast forward to 2021, through the generosity of our donors, we have adopted 14 families. We provide all the necessary trimmings to make their Holiday Season a little bit brighter. We hope to do this each year helping as many families with some little extra cheer at the holidays. This year, through the tremendous generosity of our community, we also included gift certificates for food to help out with Thanksgiving Dinner too. We have added to the program and now have a "Mission Make Merry Continued" Project. See write up below. |
Our Mission Continues.......
In May we realized one of our Disabled Veteran Families was without Air Conditioning in their home because of the prohibitive cost of installing a new Air Condition Unit. We got to work and and rallied our resources. Through the help of your donations, a large donation from one of our sponsors "Ronin Riding Club" and a donation from Frank Fenzel of Fenzel Air helping get the unit installed, we were able to help get this family some A/C into their home. We truly live in an amazing community! Please, let's keep up the giving for those who have given so much for us.
Our Mission Continues.......
In May we realized one of our Disabled Veteran Families was without Air Conditioning in their home because of the prohibitive cost of installing a new Air Condition Unit. We got to work and and rallied our resources. Through the help of your donations, a large donation from one of our sponsors "Ronin Riding Club" and a donation from Frank Fenzel of Fenzel Air helping get the unit installed, we were able to help get this family some A/C into their home. We truly live in an amazing community! Please, let's keep up the giving for those who have given so much for us.
"mission nake merry continued" project
A little fun something for Easter for the Kids!
As we finished the Mission Make Merry Project this Holiday Season, we continued to have contact with 5 families with small children. These families sent us thank you notes, emails and messages of gratitude. We realized these disabled Veterans and their families, just needed a little extra help through the year. Holiday 4 Heroes, with your help, will help them for one year so they are able to get on their feet without having an extra bill put them back even further. With this in mind, we have continued Mission Make Merry, for these families, giving them a safety net. Sometimes they may need a little extra help with Gas for transportation, help with food due to the increasing prices, help for an unusually high utility bill or so many other necessities. Our hope, in dealing with these families for a year, is that they will be back on their feet and will be able to see better days.
This is an example of why we do what we do and how we could not do what we do without you.
On the VA’s List of families, that needed a little extra help for the holidays, was a dad and his two little boys. When we contacted the dad a disabled Veteran, he was so discouraged with life he and was really skeptical of what we were trying to do for him and his family. We continued to reassure him that we truly wanted to help and that. members of the community had contributed to our mission to help in-need military families through our Mission Make Merry Program. It appeared, until the gifts were delivered, he found it difficult that there were people out there who truly cared about helping him and his 2 boys. He received the gifts at the front door and didn’t even let us in the house. We knew we could help so we stayed in contact and at Easter we delivered some Easter Baskets for the kids. The dad was so happy he invited us in, took pictures of the kids and told us “We restored his faith in humanity.” Now that makes our heart sing!
This is an example of why we do what we do and how we could not do what we do without you.
On the VA’s List of families, that needed a little extra help for the holidays, was a dad and his two little boys. When we contacted the dad a disabled Veteran, he was so discouraged with life he and was really skeptical of what we were trying to do for him and his family. We continued to reassure him that we truly wanted to help and that. members of the community had contributed to our mission to help in-need military families through our Mission Make Merry Program. It appeared, until the gifts were delivered, he found it difficult that there were people out there who truly cared about helping him and his 2 boys. He received the gifts at the front door and didn’t even let us in the house. We knew we could help so we stayed in contact and at Easter we delivered some Easter Baskets for the kids. The dad was so happy he invited us in, took pictures of the kids and told us “We restored his faith in humanity.” Now that makes our heart sing!
HOLIDAY 4 HEROES IS THE PROUD RECIPIENT OF BAY PINES VA HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
LEE COUNTY DIRECTOR'S CUP AWARD
"VETERAN'S ADMINISTRATION ANNUAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE DONOR OF THE YEAR"
LEE COUNTY DIRECTOR'S CUP AWARD
"VETERAN'S ADMINISTRATION ANNUAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE DONOR OF THE YEAR"
Packing Party - Join us for some fun and friendship
We had such a fun day packing backpack for our homeless Vets. Thank you Diane Platipodis Yavor, Lisa Spencer and Tricia Rice for your hard work and lively banter. A very special thank you to Gold Star Moms Julia and Lisa. Thank you for your time and sharing your sons stories with us. And thank you to your Gold Star Mom organization for the very generous donation that made this packing possible. 176 pack headed out this coming weekend!
Look at our new Packing Room donated by David and Tricia Rice, Southern Hardware and Door. The space is so nice! Thank You.
Another 50 packages this weekend! Thank you!
And another 50 boxes this weekend!
Look at our new Packing Room donated by David and Tricia Rice, Southern Hardware and Door. The space is so nice! Thank You.
Another 50 packages this weekend! Thank you!
And another 50 boxes this weekend!
If you would like to help, please send your contact info to triciah4h@gmail.com
Traciah has taken over volunteer services and is an amazing addition to our committee.
Packing dates are set and you will be able to sign up in advance. Thank you!
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These amazing people pictured here join us to pack comfort and care packages for our troops and Back Packs for our homeless Veterans. We have packing parties on Thursdays and Saturdays. Contact Triciah Rice to join the fun triciah4@gmail.com. We are so fortunate to have a lady who hand makes cards for EVERY holiday. They are amazing!!! Hand written notes inside. Is anyone interested in reaching out to children / classrooms to see if they would like to generate more notes to our soldiers! If you are interested fill out the Contact Us Form and tell us what you would like to do. Thank you to all of you who have generously donated your time to make this effort such a success! |
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a glance into what we have been doing this Quarter
For those who are currently serving in our military all over the world and those Veterans in-need in our community we have, with your help, provided the following:
- 250 Comfort and Care Packages sent to our troops
- 150 Back Packs distributed to our Homeless Veterans
- 2 truckloads of Bulk Food for our in-need Veterans for the VA Food Pantry
We stocked a dozen barracks for returning soldiers of the TF Raiders Angry Vikings Division
with bed linens and towels. (They are returning after 6 months in Iraq we just found out they come home to empty barracks)
- We Thank you. Because we could not do what we do without you!
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We thank all of you for your loyalty and generosity for our "Holiday 4 Heroes" Program. Holiday 4 Heroes is a 501C registered charity
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