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Do you want to help others this holiday season, but don’t have any time to do so? If that is the case, Hillside Special Santas has a way for you to help children and families in need and save time. Simply log on to the Hillside Special Santas Web site.
Hillside Special Santas will help more than 5,900 youth from 4,000 families served by Hillside Family of Agencies this holiday season. To meet its goal, the program has created a user-friendly web experience for those in the community who want to make a difference in the lives of children and families this holiday season.
“At Hillside Special Santas, we understand that time is a precious commodity–especially during the holidays. That’s why our Web site has several time-saving options for donors so that they can help youth and families in need when and how they prefer,” said Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager.
One of these options is the Hillside Special Santas online Personal Shopper tool. By going to the Web site (http://www.hillside.com/Donate/Santas/index.htm), time-strapped browsers select what gift they want to donate and in whatever amount they prefer—all without the hassle of trudging out to the store to buy it themselves. Individuals, families, students, community groups, businesses, religious organizations, and all others have the option of selecting any number of the most needed gifts this holiday season and designate where the gift or gifts will actually be donated.
Hillside Special Santas Personal Shopper gift options range in price from $5 to $25 each, and include such items as learning toys, books, journals, gloves, hoodies, portable music players, teen-oriented gift cards, and grocery gift cards. Donations are made through a secure server by credit card. Gifts can be designated to youth in services in Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, or wherever most needed.
In addition to the Personal Shopper, anyone accessing the site can also utilize the online donation feature. The money donated in this manner will go directly to Hillside Special Santas and help the program provide such things as grocery gift certificates to families in need.
To become a Hillside Special Santa or to learn more about the online personal shopper tool log on to the Hillside Special Santas Web site, or follow the reindeer at www.Hillside.com.
Much like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer leads the way for Santa Claus in the popular holiday tune, Hillside Special Santas has a reindeer leading the way for children and families served by Hillside Family of Agencies.
The reindeer is the holiday giving program’s new logo, replacing the three Santa hat design that had been utilized for many years.
Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas program manager, believes the reindeer was the perfect choice for the new logo because it is an image that is reminiscent of children and the fun of the holidays.
“We hope that people will follow the reindeer and become a Hillside Special Santa this year,” says Bohne, noting that her favorite moments during Hillside Special Santas come when she is listening to a donor tell her how excited he or she is about giving gifts to the children and families.
“Many donors show me each gift they’ve purchased and I tell them the joy they’re feeling is not even close to how much joy a child feels,” says Bohne.
The Hillside Special Santas Reindeer is hoping you will find him at www.Hillside.com. By clicking on the Reindeer, individuals, families, students, community groups, businesses, religious organizations, and all others can learn how to make the holiday season brighter for the 5,900 youth from 4,000 families in central and western New York served by Hillside Family of Agencies that Hillside Special Santas will help this year.
Bohne adds that families and office groups looking for holiday projects are just a click away from the Hillside Special Santas Reindeer. There she says they will learn about the needs of the children and families in the greater Buffalo, Syracuse, or Rochester area.
Follow the Reindeer to www.Hillside.com and become a Hillside Special Santa today!
It’s not too early to begin planning for the holidays. And it’s not too early to become a Hillside Special Santa and help youth and families build better futures.
This holiday season, Hillside Special Santas will help more than 5,900 youth from 4,000 families across New York served by Hillside Family of Agencies.
“Each year, the people that donate new gifts and clothing to Hillside Special Santas are truly reflective of that special human quality that is shown when there are others in need,” says Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager, noting that now is the time to make a difference in the lives of these children and families.
Bohne, along with all of the members of the Hillside Special Santas staff, encourage individuals, families, students, community groups, businesses, religious organizations, and all others to consider joining in the fun and becoming Hillside Special Santas this year to help make the holiday season brighter for local youth and their families that are in need. To learn how to become a Hillside Special Santa, call (585) 256-7630, (716) 848-6416, or (315) 258-2191, or follow the reindeer at www.Hillside.com.
“Thanks to the more than 25 years of generous support from of all of the Hillside Special Santas in the community, Hillside Family of Agencies is able to reach out to thousands of youth and families each year through Hillside Special Santas. As our needs continue to grow, your support becomes even more valuable,” says Sally.
Check back here on Monday, September 15, for exciting news about the 2008 Hillside Special Santas program!
Hillside Special Santas and WARM 101.3 are teaming up to bring Christmas to Rochester a little early this year. Tune in to WARM 101.3 on the 25th to hear all of your holiday favorites–July 25th that is!
As part of its Christmas in July promotion, WARM 101.3 will start playing Christmas music at 5:00 p.m. and will not stop until $5,000 dollars has been raised for Hillside Special Santas, the Hillside Family of Agencies’ holiday giving program that offers the community an opportunity to help youth and families during the holiday season.
Not in the holiday mood just yet? Donations will be taken online prior to the promotion at https://www.hillside.com/Donate/Christmas.asp. If $5,000 is raised before the July 25, officials at WARM 101.3 say they won't bring the "fa, la, la, la ,la," but Hillside Special Santas will be able to get a jump start on its goal by providing gifts to 101 of the 7,500 children they will be helping this holiday season.
Now entering its 27th year, Hillside Special Santas began with distribution of donated gifts stored in a Hillside leader’s office and has grown into a holiday giving program serving children and families in 24 counties throughout New York State. This year, Hillside Special Santas has expanded to provide holiday cheer to more than 7,500 youth—1,900 more than in previous years.
For more information on Hillside Special Santas, please log on to Hillside.com. Follow the reindeer, and join the merriment of Christmas in July.
For those of you that are wondering what happens once gifts are dropped off at Hillside Special Santa headquarters, here is an inside look at how volunteers fill the orders and then how they are distributed to the various programs/services. From there the gifts are given to the children and families.
Volunteers use the wish lists of each youth to fill orders.
Then those gifts are labeled with tags that correspond to the programs/services the youth is in/receiving.
And finally, Hillside staff members from the programs/services come to pick up the bagged gifts for transport to the youth and their families.
Several of the students that were integral in Batavia High School's winning effort in 98 PXY’s 2007 High School Challenge made the trip up to Hillside Special Santas headquarters Monday, December 17 to help 98 PXY's Kasper present the check for the $27,975.71 (just over 2.7 million pennies!) the contest raised to Hillside Special Santas in a special ceremony.Three Rochester TV stations came out (See coverage from News 8 Now here and here).
One of the Batavia students, senior Annie Palermo (pictured here) told the story of how they raised a portion of their more than $8,600 donation by putting two teachers up on a roof and taking pledges to keep them up there."We had two of our teachers stand on the roof for 24 hours, or however long we could pay to keep them up there," said Annie.The students estimated that to meet their fundraising goal for the event and to keep the teachers up on the roof the entire time, they needed to receive $120 in pledges an hour."We kept them up there for 24 hours, so we made, I think, over $3,000 on that," surmised Annie.
Also on hand were Family First Federal Credit Union's CEO Christine Peters (pictured here to Sally's left) and Director of Branch Operation Karin Allen (pictured here to Sally's right). After the students from the participating high schools dropped off the pennies, Family First FCU counted them all. Thanks!Sally also took an opportunity to thank all of the local high school students that participated in the contest. As she says in the video clip below, their efforts will really make this holiday season a very special one for the 5,600 youth and their families Hillside Special Santas is providing gifts to.
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