Greeting BareNaked Friends,
‘BareNaked Santa ~ $1000 in ten days for a Family in need during the holiday season’
This message came across to you somehow whether it was on Facebook, friends, Family, BareNakedFamily.com, or word of mouth. Rather than discard and forget about it, you’re receiving this message because you chose to do something about it. And that ‘something’ is nothing short of true human compassion and understanding. In true BareNakedFamily style, we threw this together with very little planning, red tape, and time ~ but with all heart. When the creative stuff hits us, we usually work hard and fast. Thank you for biting your tongues and believing that it most certainly could be done and such an ambitious goal could be reached in such a short amount of time! Not only did we all accomplish this, we exceeded the goal totaling $1445.06 in 42 1/2 hours! We sat at the computer for two days straight as the online donations rolled in from Hawaii to Brazil to New York. Organizing the data, addresses, amounts, and quantities, we had a new appreciation for Santa and his little helpers and the work they do. Except in this workshop, we had a couple of glasses of wine, chocolate milk, and some rock n roll while we worked. Once we closed the online donations, people continued to write in and ask if they could still make donations. The good in people rose above all the holiday stereotyping portraying the selfish’ness and hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. People aren’t mean, they aren’t scrooged, and they aren’t all bitter. They’re givers. And they gave this Family a wonderful Christmas. Here’s a snapshot of how we used your money to help the BareNaked Santa Family this year…
Christmas gifts for the Family ~ Including LOTS of art supplies, one acoustic guitar, games, fun teenage girl jewelry, educational electronics, comfy and warm fun bedding, and stocking stuffers.
Clothing for each Family ~ We learned that they were literally down to one or two pairs of undergarments each, so we started from the undies and socks of each person, building an abundant source of clothing for each layer by layer. Each person in the Family now has presentable and crisp clothing allowing them that feeling of self confidence even at the most basic level. Just having new underwear and socks, they were already more than grateful at that point so anything else beyond that was just over the top. This included jeans, t shirts, blouses, jackets, church clothes, and dresses. Nothing fancy, but all nice and individualized to each person and their needs.
Footwear for some of the Family members ~ Footwear was a huge need as layers of duct tape held together the stuff they’ve been making work for years. We’ve all done that from time to time, but seeing just how long and how much duct tape was being used, these folks were truly in need of decent, well fitting shoes. We bought five pairs of shoes that will last for years to come.
Housewares ~ storage solutions, toilet brushes, mop and brooms, kitchen towels, oven mitts, bathroom mats, towels, shower caddy, bedding, pots and pans etc…
Groceries ~ Stocked their pantry with staples including canned veggies, cereal, meats, milk, boxed dinners, breads as well as holiday baking goods!
BareNaked Santa was absolutely one of the greatest things our Family has gotten to be a part of and we’ve decided to make it an annual event! So, after New Years we’re gonna start working on the 1st BareNaked ornaments commemorating everyone’s participation in this amazing act of love and kindness. We’ll ship them out to you beautiful people sometime in January along with a personal note from the BareNaked Santa Family they’ve insisted on enclosing! Thank you all again, for the love that made this so successful for us all. After all this, the Family has amazingly been accepted on their first attempt for social security disability (dad is no longer able to work due to health) which is almost unheard of and will be receiving their first hard earned check in January, taking them that much more out of survival and into living again. You were part of something much bigger folks…Thank you!
BareNaked Love,
Greg, Jenn, Austin, Kesley, and Sunny
www.BareNakedFamily.com