Valley Youth House Holiday Gift Drive 2022

The holidays are an especially difficult time for the youth and families served by Valley Youth House. The Holiday Gift Drive annually raises funds from the community in order to provide holiday gifts to over 1,500 youth and families served by the agency's programs and services. Now more than ever, non-profit organizations are in great need of philanthropic support to serve their clients.

The annual holiday gift drive is a way to show young people who are facing difficult life circumstances that someone is there for them. "The Holiday Gift drive is important to the youth we serve because it makes them feel happy and thought of during the holidays. A majority of our youth would not receive gifts if it wasn't for Valley Youth House" said Vykki Renno, an Office Manager at Valley Youth House.

The gift drive is especially meaningful to the hundreds of counselors and dedicated staff who support Valley Youth House youth. "It is such a joy for youth who may not have gotten a gift otherwise, to receive something from the gift drive?all the youth and families who benefit from the drive are so grateful and their smiles can warm a room" said Christina Cousins, a Valley Youth House therapist.

All proceeds from this campaign will provide holiday cheer to young people who formerly experienced homelessness, housing insecurity, or are currently enrolled in foster care, and now live in a Valley Youth House shelter, group home or apartment, or are receiving important counseling and therapeutic services from Valley Youth House. A Program Supervisor at Valley Youth House says "The holiday gift drive gives us as a staff a moment to put a smile on these kids' faces during the holidays. Watching them open a present that was picked just for them strengthens the relationship we have with our clients and helps to show them how much we care".