The MaliVai Washington Foundation does its part in giving back to the community in a variety of ways, and one of those traditions is its annual toy drive known as the Holiday Angels program.
This year, gifts were donated, gathered and delivered to more than 300 children who are considered to be in low-income or at-risk situations.
According to Terri Florio, executive director at the MaliVai Washington Foundation, the ability to give every child and families the sense of true holiday spirit by letting them know someone cares about them and that they are not alone is the ultimate goal of the Holiday Angels program.
“We’ve been doing this since 2000,” Florio said. “It’s kind of morphed from the 27 kids we had in our program in 2000, to now 23 years later and serving 200 kids and nearly 150 families.”
Every child that asked for a toy in the program gets at least a new toy, a new pair of sneakers and a new outfit, but sometimes donors will buy a couple of each thing listed.
“It’s a nice time of the year for the community to come together and do something nice for someone who might not have as much as they do,” Florio said.
The foundation’s main office and center is located at 1055 West Sixth Street in Jacksonville.
“This is an incredibly challenged area with the highest violent crime and homicide rates in the city,” Florio said. “A lot of our kids witness or are around a lot of that stuff, so to bring some holiday joy is really important to us.”
It has been a busy time of year for the MaliVai Washington Foundation, which began around Thanksgiving, when they sorted food items for families instead of toys.
Other events the nonprofit was a part of during December were the ability for children in the program to shop with a Jacksonville Jaguars player, where the children had the opportunity to shop not just for themselves but also for their family members.
“We also had children drink smoothies with Josh Allen here on Monday (Dec. 18), but this is truly the culmination of our holiday season. Every day you look at it and wonder how it’s all going to get done, but at the end of the day the kids are happy, and the families are happy.”
The support from the community is key to helping make sure the programs are a success, and the volunteers that helped both gather and deliver gifts mean the world to Florio and the foundation’s staff.
Another sign of that support is that the Furyk & Friends Foundation gave some of the food collected during its “Hope for the Holidays” food drive to the MaliVai Washington Foundation to disperse to its families in need.
“We’re blessed that we are able to provide a helping hand to those families that have a need or request help over the holidays,” Florio said. “We’re still kind of a well-kept secret, in that we’re not as big as some of the other organizations in town, which means for us it’s a way to expose more people to all the things that we do through their involvement.”
The Holiday Angels program is one of the many MaliVai Washington Foundation events held throughout the year, and some volunteers are regulars that have been helping offer support for years.
“There are a lot of different ways for us to involve the community and for them to donate or give back with their time,” Florio said.
Homework assistance, life skills classes and fitness activities, such as tennis, are just some of the services the foundation offers throughout the year.
