{"id":11271,"date":"2024-11-29T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=11271"},"modified":"2024-11-29T12:39:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T17:39:29","slug":"holiday-angels-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/holiday-angels-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Angels needed\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Tiffany Merlo Phelps
mail@floridanewsline.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It began with a simple question that MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation Executive Director Terri Florio posed to a 10-year-old girl: \u201cWhat do you want for Christmas?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. I won\u2019t get anything anyway.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when the Holiday Angels Program was born at the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation in 2000 at the same time as it started a comprehensive afterschool program. The foundation realized that many of its low-income participants likely faced holidays without any gifts. The Holiday Angels program at first aimed to get one pair of new shoes, one new outfit and one new toy for its 230 children (K-12) in the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat morphed into not just getting gifts for our kids, but also including siblings of those participants (birth to 18). We serve a total of 500 children through the Holiday Angels program,\u201d said Florio, who has worked for the foundation for 28 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation is an afterschool and summer youth development program in Jacksonville\u2019s Urban Core that promotes academic achievement and positive life skills. It was started in 1996 by pro-tennis player, Olympian and Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington to introduce urban youth to the sport he loved. It has grown into a comprehensive afterschool youth development program, \u201cTennis-n-Tutoring.\u201d Washington lives in Ponte Vedra Beach and remains active in all aspects of the foundation, including as a Holiday Angel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Makayla H., 16, a recipient of the Holiday Angels program since she was in the second grade, the entire experience has been a blessing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe program is like a family. I know that I can count on my friends here \u2014 no doubt about it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels like a warm hug. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makayla said her very first gift from her holiday angel was a pink bicycle, which helped her to learn how to ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the bike was delivered, I felt so much love from everyone,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makayla, who attends Riverside High School and has an interest in fashion design and forensic science, said angels play a key role during the holidays and even a small gift serves to brighten the life of a child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants can make gift requests, and foundation staff stress that the requests should be made by the child for a true \u201cgift\u201d as opposed to something that could be seen as more of a necessity, such as underwear or pajamas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becoming a Holiday Angel simply involves sending an email to the foundation. Angels can indicate whether they wish to adopt a child, a family or to just donate cash ($150 will cover the cost of one child). Requests can be made to adopt a child or family with similar ages as the donating family to make shopping for new gifts easier, said Florio. Participants are also asked to wrap the items per instructions to help save staff time. Gifts are due by Dec. 16 and are delivered to families on Dec. 23. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While gifts are being dropped off, Florio said the office gets transformed into a Santa\u2019s workshop during the final weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, that whole season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a very crazy time. It is a lot of work, but being able to see the kids and their faces is amazing. It is a very tangible way to see the impact that we have year-round,\u201d said Florio. \u201cThe look on their faces when they receive the gifts is pretty exciting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information or to become a Holiday Angel, email champion@malwashington.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo courtesy Terri Florio\u00a0
Holiday Angels gift delivery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tiffany Merlo Phelpsmail@floridanewsline.com It began with a simple question that MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation Executive Director Terri Florio posed to a 10-year-old girl: \u201cWhat do you want for Christmas?\u201d  The answer: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. I won\u2019t get anything anyway.\u201d  That\u2019s when the Holiday Angels Program was born at the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ponte-vedra"},"yoast_head":"\nHoliday Angels needed\u00a0 - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ponte Vedra NewsLine By Tiffany Merlo Phelpsmail@floridanewsline.com It began with a simple question that MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation Executive Director Terri Florio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/ponte-vedra\/holiday-angels-needed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holiday Angels needed\u00a0 - 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