Project Christmas 2023 Stats
Donations were collected for the - 40 - Families consisting of - 84 - children and - 63 - adults.
We collected donations from families all across South Jersey -
We raised $550 for the families through our GoFundMe, 100% of which was used to purchase wanted and needed items for the
families fulfilling wish list items for many of the children!
(Why were 2023 donations and the number of families SO much lower in 2023? Please see the arrow (===>) below - where we directly
address how & why 2023 was a bit of an anomaly for us as well as how we're making changes going forward!)
Donations were delivered to families
Dec 21st- Dec 23rd, 2023
Dec 21st- Dec 23rd, 2023
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2023 Season Wrap-Up
Our 2023 season was the beginning of our three year plan to change how the Project runs, to make our work more efficient and to help us better serve families - and it started with closing TWO storage units that the Evans family has been paying for, for several years. We had a lot of "back stock" of random items that had been collecting dust - and that meant spending long, cold days outside, testing Christmas lights, reorganizing and moving a LOT of stuff. It was time to get rid of that one table top tree who's stand was never donated, that we were never able to find a stand that would fit it - and to give up on a handful of things that were in need of repairs that were either too time consuming or too costly. We ended up providing about sixteen boxes of donated items to Purple Heart - an organization that provides assistance to wounded current and former military and their families - and anything that wasn't in condition to be donated was cleared out.
We also worked really hard at reorganizing the space we use at the Evan's Family's commercial space in Berlin NJ - which is a huge undertaking that was DEFINATELY not finished - but we did make AMPLE strides towards better functioning and - hopefully being able to more effectively use the assistance of volunteers in the future.
(===>)That's not to say that 2023 was without challenges - and some major speed bumps:
1st - for YEARS, our #1 method of reaching out to donors who supported Project Christmas - was to send two text messages - to literally THOUSANDS of people as our network of donors, Project Christmas families and supporters has expanded over the years. But in late 2022 - Sprint - our family's phone network, sold the business to become part of T-Mobile, and our phone plans were taken over by T-Mobile (it's relevant, I promise!). Not only does T-Mobile function differently from Sprint - but new federal legislation regarding advertising / spam and businesses contacting people via text message - saw MAJOR changes.... and all of the sudden, after 8 years of having 80% of our yearly support coming from donors who would receive our yearly text messages.... We were NO LONGER ABLE TO REACH OUR 8 YEARS OF PROJECT CHRISTMAS families and supporters via TEXT - and it absolutely and DEVISTATINGLY impacted how 2023 went for our small organization.
Worse - we had no idea that all of our years and years of supporters and donators - hadn't SEEN our text messages. The hundreds of hours spent reaching out personaly to every single donor - were blocked, and our founder's phone was blocked from sending all texts for 72 hours - and we suddenly had NO WAY to reach all the people who have helped us make Project Christmas HAPPEN - because even those of you who have ASKED us to text yearly - we were blocked from doing so. Reaching out with a link, photo, or even the same text - to more than a DOZEN people - would result in my number being suspended as suspected SPAM and blocked from contact. It was HORRIBLE.
Suddenly - we went from reaching over 4,000 people in an instant to remind them that Project Christmas is happening - to not being able to let anyone know - unless they were ALREADY reaching out to us - or looking for our website directly. It was DEVISTATING.
2nd - Despite 4 fantastic years of incredible support and kindness from the nuns, teachers, staff and families at Edmund Early Education - for the first time, The Little Servant Sisters of The Immaculate Conception also let us know that they were working on a new project in 2023 and they wouldn't be able to collect donations through the school for the 2023 project - and while we GREATLY thank them for the 4 YEARS of incredible support and assistance - they had been such a MASSIVE supporting part of how we were able to help SO many families for the past 4 years - and we had, perhaps, become too complacent with all of the extra help they had provided - and losing that extra avenue of support hit us hard. The school and their family network who had provided 40% of our physically donated toys, games, books and kids clothing in 2019, 20, 21 and 2022 was no longer going to be a collection point for the Project....Again - through no fault of the school - but this surprising change had a HUGE impact on how things would turn out for 2023. We simply weren't able to take on NEARLY as many families, and we weren't going to be able to help NEARLY as many kids and families.
And finally - the continuing financial devastation, affecting the very families we assist - was lingering, worse than ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Previous donors were turning to us - not only no longer able to donate - but now many of them were in need of assistance for their own kids. We took in less than 1/5th of what we've fundraised - taking in just $500 in support via GoFundMe. It was our lowest year for donations by a MASSIVE degree.
But never fear. We still personally printed and distributed over 3000 paper flyers in Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Medford, Marlton, Berlin Township, Berlin Boro, Evesham, Gibbsboro and in several other neighborhoods throughout the area - AND we now have a paid service that will, for the first time, set up a business account for sending text message alerts about Project Christmas to all of our donors and supporters (just twice a season as always!) - and while it's no where NEAR the thousands of people we were able to reach before - we are SLOWLY building our contacts back up so we don't face this incredible damage to our project in future years. (<===)
We still have one year round storage unit in Voorhees. (Donations are not used for this - our family pays out of pocket for all year round Warehouse and Storage solutions!) - and we still have a lot of work to do, to fully transform the (unheated!) warehouse space in Berlin to best suit our needs. It's extremely hard to both work on the organization and make major changes to the space - and it's all but impossible to do DURING the Christmas season, so it's very much a project we'll be working on all the way through 2026!
We did have a LARGE amount of clothing distributed - and this time we were able to give out over 185 bags of donated clothing - as well as coats and winter gear - directly to families as we distributed the hundreds of boxes to our 2023 families. We continued to collect clothing donations through early 2024, much of which is now stored at the warehouse and will be given to families in 2024!
We had 12 families that were FULLY sponsored this year (fully assisted in all categories), and we also were able to provide gifts for the kids of the additional 28 families who were on our wait list - we had three families who were unable to pick up their family's donations by Christmas, but celebrated a delayed holiday due to health issues and their donations were distributed to them after the holiday.
We delivered nineteen full sized and ten miniature Christmas trees to families in need - as well as providing holiday decorations and requested household items for more than five dozen families who needed these items!
In the month after Christmas, we distributed 212 bags and boxes of clothing that we packed for the families who needed them. In the Spring of 2022, we distributed an additional 114 bags and boxes of clothing (plus shoes) to many additional families who were not part of this year's Christmas program after we reached out to many people on Facebook who had posted in area groups looking for assistance, needing clothing for themselves or their children. We are proud to continue to give as much clothing as possible to families throughout the year now - NOT just at Christmas!
Here is the link to our 2023 Fundraiser https://gofund.me/f1704c35
(Here you can see our regular updates, what the funds were used for. etc!)
Our 2023 season was the beginning of our three year plan to change how the Project runs, to make our work more efficient and to help us better serve families - and it started with closing TWO storage units that the Evans family has been paying for, for several years. We had a lot of "back stock" of random items that had been collecting dust - and that meant spending long, cold days outside, testing Christmas lights, reorganizing and moving a LOT of stuff. It was time to get rid of that one table top tree who's stand was never donated, that we were never able to find a stand that would fit it - and to give up on a handful of things that were in need of repairs that were either too time consuming or too costly. We ended up providing about sixteen boxes of donated items to Purple Heart - an organization that provides assistance to wounded current and former military and their families - and anything that wasn't in condition to be donated was cleared out.
We also worked really hard at reorganizing the space we use at the Evan's Family's commercial space in Berlin NJ - which is a huge undertaking that was DEFINATELY not finished - but we did make AMPLE strides towards better functioning and - hopefully being able to more effectively use the assistance of volunteers in the future.
(===>)That's not to say that 2023 was without challenges - and some major speed bumps:
1st - for YEARS, our #1 method of reaching out to donors who supported Project Christmas - was to send two text messages - to literally THOUSANDS of people as our network of donors, Project Christmas families and supporters has expanded over the years. But in late 2022 - Sprint - our family's phone network, sold the business to become part of T-Mobile, and our phone plans were taken over by T-Mobile (it's relevant, I promise!). Not only does T-Mobile function differently from Sprint - but new federal legislation regarding advertising / spam and businesses contacting people via text message - saw MAJOR changes.... and all of the sudden, after 8 years of having 80% of our yearly support coming from donors who would receive our yearly text messages.... We were NO LONGER ABLE TO REACH OUR 8 YEARS OF PROJECT CHRISTMAS families and supporters via TEXT - and it absolutely and DEVISTATINGLY impacted how 2023 went for our small organization.
Worse - we had no idea that all of our years and years of supporters and donators - hadn't SEEN our text messages. The hundreds of hours spent reaching out personaly to every single donor - were blocked, and our founder's phone was blocked from sending all texts for 72 hours - and we suddenly had NO WAY to reach all the people who have helped us make Project Christmas HAPPEN - because even those of you who have ASKED us to text yearly - we were blocked from doing so. Reaching out with a link, photo, or even the same text - to more than a DOZEN people - would result in my number being suspended as suspected SPAM and blocked from contact. It was HORRIBLE.
Suddenly - we went from reaching over 4,000 people in an instant to remind them that Project Christmas is happening - to not being able to let anyone know - unless they were ALREADY reaching out to us - or looking for our website directly. It was DEVISTATING.
2nd - Despite 4 fantastic years of incredible support and kindness from the nuns, teachers, staff and families at Edmund Early Education - for the first time, The Little Servant Sisters of The Immaculate Conception also let us know that they were working on a new project in 2023 and they wouldn't be able to collect donations through the school for the 2023 project - and while we GREATLY thank them for the 4 YEARS of incredible support and assistance - they had been such a MASSIVE supporting part of how we were able to help SO many families for the past 4 years - and we had, perhaps, become too complacent with all of the extra help they had provided - and losing that extra avenue of support hit us hard. The school and their family network who had provided 40% of our physically donated toys, games, books and kids clothing in 2019, 20, 21 and 2022 was no longer going to be a collection point for the Project....Again - through no fault of the school - but this surprising change had a HUGE impact on how things would turn out for 2023. We simply weren't able to take on NEARLY as many families, and we weren't going to be able to help NEARLY as many kids and families.
And finally - the continuing financial devastation, affecting the very families we assist - was lingering, worse than ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Previous donors were turning to us - not only no longer able to donate - but now many of them were in need of assistance for their own kids. We took in less than 1/5th of what we've fundraised - taking in just $500 in support via GoFundMe. It was our lowest year for donations by a MASSIVE degree.
But never fear. We still personally printed and distributed over 3000 paper flyers in Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Medford, Marlton, Berlin Township, Berlin Boro, Evesham, Gibbsboro and in several other neighborhoods throughout the area - AND we now have a paid service that will, for the first time, set up a business account for sending text message alerts about Project Christmas to all of our donors and supporters (just twice a season as always!) - and while it's no where NEAR the thousands of people we were able to reach before - we are SLOWLY building our contacts back up so we don't face this incredible damage to our project in future years. (<===)
We still have one year round storage unit in Voorhees. (Donations are not used for this - our family pays out of pocket for all year round Warehouse and Storage solutions!) - and we still have a lot of work to do, to fully transform the (unheated!) warehouse space in Berlin to best suit our needs. It's extremely hard to both work on the organization and make major changes to the space - and it's all but impossible to do DURING the Christmas season, so it's very much a project we'll be working on all the way through 2026!
We did have a LARGE amount of clothing distributed - and this time we were able to give out over 185 bags of donated clothing - as well as coats and winter gear - directly to families as we distributed the hundreds of boxes to our 2023 families. We continued to collect clothing donations through early 2024, much of which is now stored at the warehouse and will be given to families in 2024!
We had 12 families that were FULLY sponsored this year (fully assisted in all categories), and we also were able to provide gifts for the kids of the additional 28 families who were on our wait list - we had three families who were unable to pick up their family's donations by Christmas, but celebrated a delayed holiday due to health issues and their donations were distributed to them after the holiday.
We delivered nineteen full sized and ten miniature Christmas trees to families in need - as well as providing holiday decorations and requested household items for more than five dozen families who needed these items!
In the month after Christmas, we distributed 212 bags and boxes of clothing that we packed for the families who needed them. In the Spring of 2022, we distributed an additional 114 bags and boxes of clothing (plus shoes) to many additional families who were not part of this year's Christmas program after we reached out to many people on Facebook who had posted in area groups looking for assistance, needing clothing for themselves or their children. We are proud to continue to give as much clothing as possible to families throughout the year now - NOT just at Christmas!
Here is the link to our 2023 Fundraiser https://gofund.me/f1704c35
(Here you can see our regular updates, what the funds were used for. etc!)
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Family #1 from Philadelphia, PA said:
"Dealing with my husband's cancer and my recent diagnosis has been exhausting and devastating, but this was an incredible Christmas and I'm so grateful that our girls could find something to celebrate despite everything our family has been through in the last few years." |
Family #34 from Camden, NJ said:
"My kids would not have had Christmas without you. There just aren't words to tell you how thankful for everything you did to make Christmas happen for them - you are ANGELS. and Project Christmas has been a true miracle." |
This letter was sent by a mother who wrote it and asked that it be shared in its entirety (with
only spelling and spacing edited to make it easier to read on our site). This was one of the
kindest letters we've ever received about Project Christmas, and I hope it makes our donors feel
as wonderful as I did reading it:
She wrote:
"I hope that you and your family have an incredible holiday. What you have done for our family, and so many others is nuts.
I don't have any idea how you make it happen, where you find the energy or time but the kids were so exited to see everything
you picked out for them.
Last year, we got help from Toys for Tots and I felt so blessed for that help. They gave us two gifts for each of my girls, and I
was so grateful that my daughters got to unwrap anything at all, and even tho the toys were little and a little young for my
oldest, they also gave her a book she loved and i thought that was the best thing ever. I felt so bad asking for that help and I
thought when I started my new job in August that this year would finally be different only to have my car break down, our
fourteen year old dog got very sick and although i was able to scrape and borrow to give us (hopefully) more time with him,
we were right back in a place where there was no way I could pay our rent keep the gas and lights on and still give the kids
anything more than a few treats from the dollar store this time.
When you reached out to tell us that our family was being sponsored, I wish I had known that I could be relieved. I wish I
hadn't spent weeks leading up to Christmas in tears and feeling like id failed my kids. They love our dog so much, but telling
kids that saving our dog, they wouldn't get christmas presents again for the third year since my mom died i felt like i
failed them so bad.
When you asked for the girls sizes and what color and what kind of animals they like and for wish lists for them i didnt think of
why and i didnt want to tell my girls because I couldnt stand getting them excited because i didnt know if you could really help
us. I couldnt take them to see Santa at the fire house because i didnt want my girls to think santa is a liar when he couldnt
show up for them again. and then when you texted me that we could come get my girl's gifts, and you asked if i had enough
room in my friends car i never thought you would have so much for just us. Then her car died on our way to you and i was
going to be an hour late picking up and your mom said she would stay and wait for me i figured we had missed the time and
and we wouldnt get gifts at all but your mom waited in her car and then helped carry everything to put in the uber and she
gave me money to pay for the ride and i tried to tell her no but she wouldnt let me.
I thought maybe I would be so lucky if my girls would get a toy that they could play with together or some new markers or
something. i never expected anything but When i showed up at your place and you had so many boxes and bags for us
that i couldnt get them all in the car without unloading one of them i thought i was going to pass out. i put aside gifts for
there birthdays. for the tooth fairy. for easter. for the end of school and good grades. even just the box of books you gave us
will keep my older girls happy all year.
I hope this wasnt too long but i just had to tell you how much this meant to our family and i really hope that you keep doing
this because for my girls this was the best christmas they have ever and since my mom died and we ended up in a homeless
shelter back in the pandemic. It has been a really hard road to get back on my feet with three kids. no help and my
mom gone just like that but i spent my whole nite Christmas eve wrapping presents and crying happy tears because of you
guys and everything you did for us.
Please Please Please give your family (especially your mom for waiting for me!!!) a huge hug and tell everyone how much my
girls were so happy when they woke up. there was paper every where because Santa found them this year. and you didnt just
be Santa for my girls you made me believe too. I hope you can put this on your website so other families know
when you say you can help them that they are going to have the best christmas ever and they can be happy and excited
instead of so much worry and dread.
We will love and keep the ornaments the girls made with the kits you sent. we have ten new ornaments for our tree and they
want to make more again tonite and now we actually have a tree that lights up because of you. i sent a bunch of pictures and i
hope you can see how much my girls loved everything you picked for them. it was really like Santa went shopping for each
of them specially and i hope that by next Christmas, we can bring you presents to help another family. again, thank you thank
you thank you. i know you said one was enough but its not.
with all my love. ---redacted for privacy--
"I hope that you and your family have an incredible holiday. What you have done for our family, and so many others is nuts.
I don't have any idea how you make it happen, where you find the energy or time but the kids were so exited to see everything
you picked out for them.
Last year, we got help from Toys for Tots and I felt so blessed for that help. They gave us two gifts for each of my girls, and I
was so grateful that my daughters got to unwrap anything at all, and even tho the toys were little and a little young for my
oldest, they also gave her a book she loved and i thought that was the best thing ever. I felt so bad asking for that help and I
thought when I started my new job in August that this year would finally be different only to have my car break down, our
fourteen year old dog got very sick and although i was able to scrape and borrow to give us (hopefully) more time with him,
we were right back in a place where there was no way I could pay our rent keep the gas and lights on and still give the kids
anything more than a few treats from the dollar store this time.
When you reached out to tell us that our family was being sponsored, I wish I had known that I could be relieved. I wish I
hadn't spent weeks leading up to Christmas in tears and feeling like id failed my kids. They love our dog so much, but telling
kids that saving our dog, they wouldn't get christmas presents again for the third year since my mom died i felt like i
failed them so bad.
When you asked for the girls sizes and what color and what kind of animals they like and for wish lists for them i didnt think of
why and i didnt want to tell my girls because I couldnt stand getting them excited because i didnt know if you could really help
us. I couldnt take them to see Santa at the fire house because i didnt want my girls to think santa is a liar when he couldnt
show up for them again. and then when you texted me that we could come get my girl's gifts, and you asked if i had enough
room in my friends car i never thought you would have so much for just us. Then her car died on our way to you and i was
going to be an hour late picking up and your mom said she would stay and wait for me i figured we had missed the time and
and we wouldnt get gifts at all but your mom waited in her car and then helped carry everything to put in the uber and she
gave me money to pay for the ride and i tried to tell her no but she wouldnt let me.
I thought maybe I would be so lucky if my girls would get a toy that they could play with together or some new markers or
something. i never expected anything but When i showed up at your place and you had so many boxes and bags for us
that i couldnt get them all in the car without unloading one of them i thought i was going to pass out. i put aside gifts for
there birthdays. for the tooth fairy. for easter. for the end of school and good grades. even just the box of books you gave us
will keep my older girls happy all year.
I hope this wasnt too long but i just had to tell you how much this meant to our family and i really hope that you keep doing
this because for my girls this was the best christmas they have ever and since my mom died and we ended up in a homeless
shelter back in the pandemic. It has been a really hard road to get back on my feet with three kids. no help and my
mom gone just like that but i spent my whole nite Christmas eve wrapping presents and crying happy tears because of you
guys and everything you did for us.
Please Please Please give your family (especially your mom for waiting for me!!!) a huge hug and tell everyone how much my
girls were so happy when they woke up. there was paper every where because Santa found them this year. and you didnt just
be Santa for my girls you made me believe too. I hope you can put this on your website so other families know
when you say you can help them that they are going to have the best christmas ever and they can be happy and excited
instead of so much worry and dread.
We will love and keep the ornaments the girls made with the kits you sent. we have ten new ornaments for our tree and they
want to make more again tonite and now we actually have a tree that lights up because of you. i sent a bunch of pictures and i
hope you can see how much my girls loved everything you picked for them. it was really like Santa went shopping for each
of them specially and i hope that by next Christmas, we can bring you presents to help another family. again, thank you thank
you thank you. i know you said one was enough but its not.
with all my love. ---redacted for privacy--
Photos of 2023's Collection & Distribution of Gifts:
Check out all the hard work we did for our 2023 families! And we'll be back at it next year!