Alexandria Holiday Toy Drive Delivers Gifts to 1000 Children

Alexandria, VA — Every holiday season for the past decade, the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) has hosted a Christmas event at their community center. This event historically features holiday decorations complete with “Santa’s workshop”. The main objective of the event is to hold a gift giveaway, where children from different age groups have the opportunity to select an item to take with them. This year, in consideration of the current public health circumstances, ARHA hosted an outdoor version of the event so that children could still receive gifts, especially as this year has brought on challenges that have made gift giving even more difficult for many families.

To assist in the curation of this year’s event, ARHA teamed up with nonprofit organizations and private entities to sponsor portions of the event. The P.U.S.O Foundation provided volunteers and Health Services Provider AETNA provided sponsorship resources. Additionally, Arlington-based non-profit Hearts of Empowerment pledged $4,000.00 for the procurement of food, toys, and supplies while meal service provider, Mighty Meals, donated 60 healthy meals for all volunteers.
The event convened around 500 families over the course of a scheduled 3 day-long event. 1000 children submitted requests for gifts. All of these requests were fulfilled. Volunteers for the event consisted of members of the Alexandria Police Department, as well as members of the P.U.S.O foundation and Hearts of Empowerment.

Hearts of Empowerment is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping other charities raise awareness for their mission and maximize their fundraising potential through event planning and strategic marketing.

The P.U.S.O Foundation aims to provide hope with a purpose. Their goal is to empower individual involvement in service work by demonstrating the power of giving back.