Various organizations and volunteers throughout Memphis helped to make this holiday season special for underprivileged children in the Mid-South.
Volunteers from different organizations sponsored a child by providing Christmas gifts as part of the Holiday Heroes program at Youth Villages.
“So, every year our kids are asked to make a wish list just like any other kid and then those lists are given to various individuals in the community that would like to sponsor our youth and then they can go out and select gifts for our kids that they do want,” Campus Director Colby Jonas explained.
Youth Villages provides help for children and young people across the U.S. who face a wide range of emotional, mental and behavioral problems.
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For more than 10 years, Holiday Heroes has helped to sponsor more than 12,000 children.
“We have young people on our campus who aren’t able to go home, that aren’t able to have their support systems come in as frequently as they would like to or as much as their families are able to,” Jonas said. “So, this event allows for our kids to feel that holiday cheer.”
This was the 8th year Kirk Wise with the Southern Security Federal Credit Union participated in Holiday Heroes.
“It’s a fantastic thing to give Christmas to a child who may not have seen Christmas like this before or who has had problems in the past where they haven’t gotten to experience this type of happiness in their life,” Wise said.
Wise sponsored a 17-year-old boy. Arts supplies, an NFL Jersey, and a pair of Jordan’s were just some of the gifts he received.
“He made us a special card, a homemade card and it’s uh probably my favorite gift I’ll gift all year. This probably does more for me than honestly, selfishly, than it did for him. Umm. It’s a blessing to be here to be able to be a part of it,” the teen said.
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