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At Heart of Florida United Way, we believe all parents should have the security of being able to provide their baby with the essentials. Thanks to our community’s help, we collected 40,311 items for the Basics for Babies drive. Local companies, churches, schools, social groups and individuals brought in thousands of much needed items.
One local mom, Crystal Edwards, even used her son’s first birthday party as an opportunity to collect items in lieu of receiving presents. “I’m so blessed to be able to provide for my son and I wanted to be able to help ease the burden for other mothers,” Crystal said. “We didn’t need 50 gifts for his birthday so I asked guests to bring an item to donate. They wound up bringing boxes!”
In total, our community donated:
- 21,152 diapers
- 18,804 wipes
- 504 pieces of new infant clothing
- More than $12,520 in total value
Besides collecting all of these items, we also received the gift of time from volunteers, who spent hours sorting and packing donations. (Check out more pictures of the mountains of infant supplies they sorted!)
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Up next we will begin to distribute everything to our partner agencies who assist families and babies in need all over Central Florida, including single mothers living in domestic violence shelters and at-risk teen parents.
On behalf of the families who will be receiving these supplies, thank you. This holiday season, babies in Central Florida will be going to bed with a fresh diaper, full tummy and warm blanket because of you.
A special thank you to our community and corporate partners who participated in Basics for Babies:
- Target
- Walt Disney World
- Deloitte
- Costa Communications Group
- Manheim Orlando
- TEK systems
- BKHM CPAs
- Orange County Sheriff’s Office
- The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools
- United Way Women’s Leadership Council
- Orlando Natural Mamas
- The Ismaili Centre
- Junior League of Greater Orlando
- Windermere Preparatory School
