2016 Letter from Emily
Dear Friends:
Sit down for this.
One year ago, a local child whose father had died the previous Thanksgiving was struggling. She was bringing home poor grades and sleeping on an air mattress in her home. But because of the generosity and compassion of friends like you, her grades are up with the help of a tutor, her bedroom is furnished, and she and her hard-working, widowed mother experienced a once-in-a-lifetime Christmas morning last year that they’ll never forget.
We at One Special Christmas (OSC) won’t forget it, either.
As you may recall, we changed things up a bit last year. For 25 years, OSC operated similarly to how it started, when my dad was stranded at college over Christmas break in 1973 and was granted permission to use the woodworking shop to make toys for children in a nearby orphanage. In the footsteps of my dad, we have continued trying to showing Jesus’ love in real, tangible ways by fulfilling the Christmas wishes of as many children as possible. But last year, we decided to choose just one family nominated by our community and give it one truly special, life-changing Christmas by fulfilling its wishlist AND helping meet its most pressing needs. All of the details about their amazing Christmas can be read in the journal entries below.
It was such beautiful success that this year, we’ve raised the bar. We are confident we can enlist enough help from donors and volunteers to change the lives of THREE area families, and we are so excited to get started! But for our plans to become reality, we must count on everyone to lend a hand. We could use whatever you have been blessed with – talents, abilities, money – it’s exactly what we need. Everyone has their own special part to play.
We specifically need:
–Folks to bring their friends to the auction and buy things.
Email me if you would like for us to reserve a table for you and your friends!
[email protected]
–Folks who will help fulfill Christmas wishes.
Email me if you would like to help fulfill Christmas wishes!
[email protected]
–Donations of art, hand-made furniture, nicely done crafts, money, Corporate sponsorships, materials, lumber, items to go directly to our families &/or anything else that you would like to donate.
Email me if you would like donate anything to the cause!
[email protected]
Can we count on you to help this year?
Always thanking you,
Emily Chapman Valenti
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer
Click here to get details about this year’s auction >>
