Sally and the media

All of the TV stations in Rochester came out to cover the Hillside Special Santas headquarters opening ceremony November 28. Here are a few photos from when they interviewed Sally. The reporter is RNews weekend night anchor Rocco Vertuccio.

More from the ribbon cutting ceremony

Here is another video clip from the Hillside Special Santas headquarters opening ceremony. In this clip, Sue Schiffhauer discusses the RAC and RAC for Women locations at which people can drop off Special Santa gifts.

Open for business

As of 11:30 a.m. November 28, Hillside Special Santas headquarters is officially open for the holiday season!
Check out this clip from the ribbon cutting ceremony. The woman cutting the ribbon is Sue Schiffhauer representing Hillside Special Santas holiday partner the Rochester Athletic Clubs and the Rochester Athletic Clubs for Women.

Thank you!

Thank you to the students of Batavia High School, 98 PXY’s 2007 High School Challenge winner, and to all of the local high school students that participated in the contest. Together, these students collected and donated pennies totaling over $27,975 to Hillside Special Santas to help the holiday giving program reach its goal of providing gifts and warm clothing to the 5,600 youth and their families served by Hillside Family of Agencies this year. A special thanks also to Family First Federal Credit Union for counting all of those pennies.

Enjoy the holiday

From everyone at Hillside Special Santas, here's hoping that you and yours have a very happy, healthy, safe, and joyous Thanksgiving!

It's CRUNCH time!

The Syracuse Crunch and News 10 Now are partnering to help Hillside Special Santas this year. You can, too, by dropping off a new, unwrapped gift at the November 23, 30, and December 1 games.

For more info, check out here or here.

On the inside with the Syracuse Crunch

Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager, recently took some time out from her duties at Special Santas Headquarters to travel to the OnCenter, home of the Syracuse Crunch Hockey Club. She went inside their locker room to talk to the team about Special Santas and what their help meant to her, and the youth and families that are being helped this year.
“They’ve rejuvenated us. Their desire to help the kids and families was just exciting,” said Sally after her locker room talk.
Joining Sally was Heather Van Dyne, Special Santas assistant, and Teri Parks, News 10 Now marketing manager.

Kind & thoughtful action of the day

We had an interesting call today at Hillside Special Santa headquarters.

Webster, NY resident Lorri Edicola called and said that while shopping at the TJ Maxx there, shefound an envelope with three Hillside Special Santas gift tags and $30 in it. Lorri called Hillside Special Santa headquarters to arrange to drop off the envelope because she was worried that if she left it with the store that the children would not get their gifts this holiday. Lorri came all the way from Webster to drop off the envelope. If the person who dropped it could not be found, Lorri said that she would be willing to purchase the gifts.

We sincerely thank Lorri for her kindness and thoughtfulness!

Kick Off at Carousel Nov. 25

Hillside Special Santas today announced that it is partnering with Y94FM, News 10 Now, and Carousel Center to collect new, unwrapped gifts this holiday season in an effort to extend to the community the opportunity to make the holidays more meaningful for Central New York youth and families Hillside Family of Agencies serves.

The effort will kick off on Sunday, November 25 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Carousel Center commons level. On hand will be Y94FM's Kathy Rowe and Marne Mason and News 10 Now’s Lacey Johnson.

Everyone donating a new, unwrapped gift during the kickoff will receive special gifts from Y94FM and News 10 Now, while supplies last. In addition, people stopping by the drop off location can register to win tickets from Y94FM to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra's performance of The Nutcracker.

The gift collection drive will be ongoing at Carousel Center until Tuesday, December 18. During that time, two Hillside Special Santas-decorated gift collection boxes will be placed in the mall. One will be outside of Old Navy and the other will be near the main entrance to H&M.

We look forward to seeing you out at the Carousel Center!

Hillside Special Santas on WNY Living TV show

Check out this link to hear and see Hillside Special Santas' very own Sally Bohne talk about the program with WNY Living host Maria Genero on Buffalo's WGRZ Channel 2. The show aired on November 17.

If you are reading this from the Buffalo area, be on the look out for information coming soon about the Hillside/WGRZ/WJYE wrapping party happening on December 8.

Hillside Special Santas partners with Buffalo Athletic Club

Hillside Special Santas, announces that the Buffalo Athletic Club (BAC) will be a partner in this year’s effort to make a difference in the lives of youth and families during the holiday season.

The seven BAC locations throughout Greater Buffalo will display in their lobbies a total of 700 Hillside Special Santas gift tags. Each one describes a specific child’s wish. Beginning today, November 20, visitors to any of the BAC locations are asked to remove a tag, take it home, and purchase a corresponding gift. Unwrapped gifts should be returned by December 17 to either the BAC locations in Buffalo, Amherst, Orchard Park, and Williamsville, or the BAC for Women locations in Depew, Tonawanda, or Williamsville.

“The partnership between Hillside Special Santas and the Buffalo Athletic Club provides a unique opportunity to highlight each organization’s focus on health, wellness, and building community spirit,” says Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager.

Hillside Special Santas & First Niagara Bank team up to help Buffalo youth

November 20, 2007--In an effort to extend the Greater Buffalo community the opportunity to help youth and families there build better futures during the holidays, Hillside Special Santas announces that it is partnering with First Niagara Bank this year.

Thirty First Niagara branches in and around Buffalo will display a total of 1,000 Hillside Special Santas gift tags, each one describing a specific child’s wish, this year in their lobbies. Beginning now, visitors to any of these 30 First Niagara branches are asked to remove a tag, take it home, and purchase a corresponding gift. New, unwrapped gifts should be returned to the branch location by December 17.

Last chance to use up those extra pennies

If you are a high school student in Rochester, you probably already know that the High School Challenge is just about to wrap up.

But if you have any extra pennies that you still haven't dropped off at the Bon Ton wing of Marketplace Mall, now is the time to do it.

From 6:00-9:00 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night (11/16), 98 PXY's Kasper will be on site collecting pennies as part of the station's High School Challenge to benefit Hillside Special Santas. The students donating the most pennies will receive a concert in their school by BOYS LIKE GIRLS on Friday, January 11th.

Rochester Athletic Club in for a second straight year as Hillside Special Santas partner

Hillside Special Santas announces that for a second consecutive year the Rochester Athletic Club (RAC) will be a partner in the effort to make a difference in the lives of youth and families during the holiday season.

The five RAC locations throughout Greater Rochester will display in their lobbies a total of 500 Hillside Special Santas gift tags. Each one describes a specific child’s wish. Beginning November 19, visitors to any of the RAC locations are asked to remove a tag, take it home, and purchase a corresponding gift. Unwrapped gifts should be returned by December 17 to either the RAC locations in Rochester, the RAC for Women locations in Greece, Pittsford, and Perinton, or to Hillside Family of Agencies.

“The partnership between Hillside Special Santas and the Rochester Athletic Club provides a unique opportunity to highlight each organization’s focus on health, wellness, and building community spirit,” says Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager.

Hillside learns of fraudulent fundraising being conducted in its name

Hillside Family of Agencies has received numerous calls from concerned citizens reporting that there have been at least two confirmed cases of unidentified community members fraudulently representing themselves as agents of Hillside in door-to-door solicitation efforts within the community.

According to Hillside Children’s Foundation President Tom Hildebrandt, Hillside Family of Agencies does not conduct door-to-door fundraising and has not authorized any member of the community to engage in this type of activity on behalf of the organization.

“We would never approve of this type of fundraising nor grant permission to community members to collect funds in this manner on our behalf. It is very unfortunate that our agency is being misrepresented in this way,” says Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt is also concerned that these fraudulent fundraising efforts will detract much needed attention from Hillside Family of Agencies’ 26th annual holiday campaign, Hillside Special Santas. This holiday season, Hillside Special Santas is expanding to help more than 5,600 youth served by Hillside Family of Agencies–1,600 more than in previous years, by collecting new gifts, cash, and food certificates. To learn how to become a Hillside Special Santa, follow the reindeer at www.Hillside.com.

“This is a critical time of year for us in terms of community fundraising. Hillside Special Santas has dramatically grown and so too has our need for community support. Hopefully, these fraudulent claims will not have an adverse effect on our Special Santas efforts,” says Hildebrandt.

Hillside Family of Agencies representatives encourage community members to be aware of door-to-door solicitors claiming to be raising funds for the local nonprofit. Incident reports should be filed immediately with local law enforcements officials.

Canandaigua National Bank partners with Hillside Special Santas

In an effort to extend to the community the opportunity to help youth and families build better futures this holiday season, Hillside Special Santas announces that it is partnering with Canandaigua National Bank and Trust for a fifth consecutive year.

The bank’s 18 branches will display a total of 1,500 Hillside Special Santas gift tags, each one describing a specific child’s wish, this year on holiday trees in their lobbies. Beginning November 19, visitors to any of the Canandaigua National Bank and Trust branches are asked to remove a tag, take it home, and purchase a corresponding gift. Unwrapped gifts should be returned by December 17 to any of the CNB branches throughout Monroe and Ontario counties or to Hillside Family of Agencies.

“The partnership with Canandaigua National Bank and Trust is truly a gift,” says Sally Bohne, Hillside Special Santas manager. “Through the simple act of making Hillside Special Santas gift tags available at the bank’s many community branches, CNB demonstrates its dedication to youth and families.”

Last year alone, Canandaigua National Bank and Trust helped to collect more than 1,400 gifts for Hillside Special Santas.

The signs are up!

Guess what?!?

The Hillside Special Santas signs are up at Hillside Family of Agencies locations.


This is a sure "sign" (sorry, couldn't help it :-)) that the holiday season is upon us. And, it won't be too long before Hillside Special Santas Headquarters opens.

We here at Hillside Special Santas are working on a really special celebration to commemorate the opening this year, so be sure to check back for news on that soon!

Until then, we'd love to hear your Hillside Special Santas story. Tell it to us here. Thanks!

Reindeer leads the way

To paraphrase a famous holiday tune, You may know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen...but do you know the Hillside Special Santa Reindeer?

This year, this cute little animal is leading the way to learn more about becoming a Hillside Special Santa for youth and families served by Hillside Family of Agencies in the communities in and around Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester.

Here is more info on how the Hillside Special Santa Reindeer is leading the way: http://www.hillside.com/News/nr/2007/nr_110707.htm

If you like the reindeer, be sure to check out all of the different scenes he's in at Hillside.com!