Oh, the Places We Went: All 4 The Kids August 2019
How do you measure a smile?
While there are certainly stats and numbers for what we do, we feel our truest measurement of success are all the smiling faces from the children we hope to have a lasting impact on. Whether handing out backpacks, loading bed frames and mattresses, or putting a new school uniform into hands that urgently need them, when we see those beaming smiles and hear the joy in excited voices, that is when we know we have accomplished exactly what we set out to do!
Our August Program Highlights Include:
- Total of over 200 volunteers assisted
- 3 Major Program Events (Back2School, School Uniforms at HCC Closet and A Better Night’s Sleep Bed Distribution) – 4000 backpacks, 125 beds, over 1000 school uniforms
- The YHHCC Turns 2
- Houston Children’s Charity’s was Spec’s Wines, Spirits and Finer Foods’ Charity of the Month for August
- Gala 2020 Is Officially Announced
- Total of over 4,600 Houston area children served
The month kicked off with a Back2School bang! With the help of over 100 volunteers, backpacks were given to over 4,000 kids. Rod Ryan, host of The Rod Ryan Show on 94.5 The Buzz, has led the way in helping our special children for the past 10 consecutive years. Rod and his team fundraise though sponsors, listener participation & The Rod Ryan Show Cares online store – all the proceeds go toward providing backpacks full of supplies for underprivileged, school-aged children in the Greater Houston area! Special thanks goes out to Whataburger for powering up our volunteers with breakfast and water! The day was made all the more “super” with costumed super heroes in attendance to also hand out backpacks to children who were absolutely thrilled to see their favorite characters in person!
Huge Thank You also goes to the following:
Amegy Bank, Asurion, Bellaire Lodge, Briggs Equipment, CarMax Auto Superstores Inc. Cypress, Greystar, Houston Methodist, HydroChem PSC, Memorial Hermann,Landry’s, S.P. Waltrip Lodge & The Young Houstonians for Houston Children’s Charity.
Fun Fact: Rod’s 10 years of service and dedication to this program is equivalent to 3,650 days, 521 weeks and 120 months! That’s dedication!
The The HCC Closet was “uniformly” awesome throughout the month of August! It continues to accept donations, especially, new and gently used clothing, housewares and toys every Tuesday from 10am to 4pm CST at the HCC Closet located at 5151 Mithchelldale Unit A4. This past month saw a hugely generous donation from Building New Foundations that will see a total of over 1,000 uniforms given to over 500 kids. Their amazing support (along with Rod Ryan’s help) and the demand for uniforms was so overwhelming, we opened the closet for a second day during the week of August 19th to make sure kids had their uniforms for their first day back!
Please be sure to remember HCC Closet as you’re doing your fall cleaning and donate on Tuesdays! Please call ahead to schedule your donation drop-off.
Biggest HCC Closet Needs: New and gently used fall clothing, new socks/underwear and jackets.
The forecast called for rain on August 24th, 2019, but it was all smiles and crystal clear, blue skies as we continued with our A Better Night’s Sleep Program to provide needed bedding (mattress, box springs, pillows, sheets and blankets) to 125 Houston area children. This program is carried out with the gracious support of Texas Mattress Makers, who made it possible to purchase so many mattresses as well as lending the usage of their facilities and volunteer help. Whataburger kept the volunteers going strong in the early morning with breakfast and special thanks goes to those who came out including Asurion, Bellaire Lodge, Greystar, Houston Methodist, and the Landry’s League. Our volunteers make all those smiling faces possible!
The Young Houstonians for Houston Children’s Charity celebrated their 2nd birthday at the Hotel Zaza Museum Districton Thursday, August 22nd, 2019. This event raised over $6,000 to go toward bed purchases for HCC’s A Better Night’s Sleep program. The organization’s growth truly demonstrates how much young Houstonians care about the children in their community! At the event Alexis Peltier was named Chair of the YHHCC (succeeding Immediate Past Chair Rachael Gordon) so a big congrats to her! If you would like to learn more or join their team, visit and sign up today at yhhcc.org.
During the month of August, we were honored as Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods highlighted our Chariots for Children Program as their Houston Charity of the Month. If you’re able to stop in before the month’s end, please donate upon checkout to give the gift of mobility.
Our 23rd Annual Gala will be held on Friday, March 27th, 2020 at the Post Oak Hotel. Our Gala Chair for this year will be Hallie Vanderhider and legendary band Chicago will color everyone’s world with their soulful rock highlighting the evening’s entertainment.
Upcoming Programs:
The Christmas Program will start accepting applications on September 1st, 2019.
If you would like to become an Adopt-A-Family sponsor, registration opens October 1st.
We are always looking for companies to partner with for toy drives throughout the holiday season. Please call our office for information about becoming a Toys for Tots donation site.
Houston Children’s Charity will enlist the helping hands of over 750 volunteers during the holiday season…ALL helping to create CHRISTMAS MAGIC! Information about volunteer opportunities coming soon!