Second Annual Holidays for the Homeless!

Hello beautiful souls. I know I have been rather inactive lately on my blog and on my YouTube channel, and I apologize. It's been a rather rough few months, but I'm coming out of "hiding", so to speak, to bring to you all, something extremely important and close to my heart...my brother, Zach and I's Second Annual Holidays for the Homeless service project! 

Some of you may already know, however for those of you who are just tuning in to the project this year, Holidays for the Homeless is a project we started with an aim to help homeless adults in our area. There are so many amazing programs out there that target children around the holidays such as Angel Tree and Toys for Tots, which is so great, however we felt that often times the adults may get overlooked...or simply don't receive the same attention as less fortunate youths.

We wanted to create something that could help those in need, and give back to our community that has been so good to us over the years. There have been times where I have needed a helping hand, and the universe has always provided to me, and I want nothing more than to put that back out there. I have been fortunate enough to live such a blessed life. I have always had a roof over my head, and food to fill my stomach. I have never known the hardship of not knowing where my next meal will come from. And I am fortunate to have an amazing support system of friends and family surrounding me. I have the luxury of never having to doubt weather or not I would be helped, should I need it. But not everyone has such luxuries. It's important to us that, especially around the holiday season, we ensure that everyone feels loved, and knows they're not alone. That we help spread as much love and good vibes as we can.

According to the New Beginnings of Central Florida (which, for those of you who don't know, is where we're located!) over 75,000 people are reported homeless, and of that, 10,000 of these individuals are located in Central Florida.

So what can we do about this?
Well, this is where Holidays for the Homeless comes into play. We aim to collect donations of both the physical and monetary nature to distribute on the second Saturday in December, to homeless adults in and around our area. Our hope is that this year, the project can be even more successful than it was last year and we can touch even more lives. (If you would like to see a video about how the project went last year, you can click HERE to see it.) We plan to purchase as much as we can on our own to complete the project, however we can only do so much alone.

So what can I do?
Well, glad you asked! We're taking donations from anyone who is willing to help out! You can donate items to either me or my brother. Please email me at jl.whitacre@yahoo.com and we can arrange a way for your items to either be picked up or dropped off with one of us! If you're too far away to donate physical items, or would prefer to donate money, we have a GoFundMe set up HERE. 

I want to donate items, what should I give?
The types of items we're most looking for include:

• Food items! They're best if they're something that doesn't need to be cooked or heated up, and don't expire quickly or need refrigerated. Some examples are: chips, candies, cookies or brownies, jerky, protein bars, cereal, water bottles, etc. 
• Hygiene items! Things like bars of soap or travel sized soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste, wash cloths, deodorant, hairbrushes or combs, feminine products, baby wipes, mouthwash, travel sized shampoos and conditioners, chapsticks, etc.
• First Aid and Health Items! Things such as band-aids or neosporin, vitamins, cough drops, etc.
• Gift items! Such as books, pencils and paper, stuffed animals, etc.
• Other items include: gift cards to places like Subway, McDonalds, etc where they can get a hot meal, small cans of dog food or dog treats for people with pets, cards or notes, etc. 

Thank you all in advance for your kindness and compassion toward our fellow human beings and for helping us to help someone have a brighter holiday season.