2022 Holiday Heroes Experience

✨🎄HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE GIFTED🎄✨

The day came and went but it was magical! This is quite a story so buckle up!

Parents Nancy and Eric were friends of a woman named Heather. Heather was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in August of 2022. She lost her battle in October of 2022. Heather left behind 5 kids, Maddy, Rosie, Elijah, Josh and Talia. Nancy and Eric cared for Heather and her children in her final days. They have continued to care for her children since. As if helping care for 5 children wasn’t enough, Nancy and Eric have 4 children of their own! As you can imagine going from 4 to 9 children has been quite the challenge. They have retrofitted their home to accomodate everyones needs, and they have provided all the necessities for each and every one of Heather’s 5 kids! We couldn’t have imagined helping a more deserving family this holiday season!

We were able to provide this family with a Holiday Experience to remember! They have an amazing and delicious Dinner catered by Latin Kings Catering. They had a dessert table FILLED with amazing DONATED treats! Mini cakes… yes mini individual CAKES, DONATED by Tiered Confections. I’m still in shock these beauties were donated to us! We also had chocolate covered pretzels and Italian cookies donated by my very own mom! Which was nice to give a little piece of my family to them! And Yet ANOTHER donation from a hardship hero in her own right Marilyn, who donated cookies and croissants!

They were provided with activities throughout the night such as painting, which was something Heather loved to share with her kids! We also provided them with a cookie decorating kit from Michelle Miexsell Confections! They had games like Jenga, and my family’s personal favorite candy cane game!

Last but not least we were able to provide them with multiple gifts each to complete the holiday experience by the stunning tree set up at The BARNS at Shallow Creek!

Now time for the THANK YOU’s

First and foremost thank you to Amber at The Barns at Shallow Creek! She sees my vision with Hardship Heroes and she is always willing to donate her beautiful space for us to accomplish our magical experiences!

Next I want to thank our Dessert peeps! Thank you Tiered Confections I have never seen such beautiful mini cakes in all my life! The family was in awe, and absolutely loved the surprise inside! Thank you for being selfless and taking the time and effort to make these for our special day!

Thank you to my mama for baking in the little time that you have these days! Thank you for your support, love you forever! Thank you Marilyn Mendez-Maldonado for the cookies and croissants, the kids loved popping those cookies in their mouth! They were too easy to eat! Thank you for your time and effort during such a busy time of year!

Thank you to Latin Kitchen Caterings for the delicious meal, which by the way was raved about by the entire family! Thank you Michelle Meixsell Confections for our cookie decorating kits and throwing in some extra cookies for our large family!

Thank you to Gina for nominating our family! I am so happy that we connected that day at the craft show! Even through your own hardship and challenges you were able to nominate this family. I appreciate your selflessness and am glad to have met you!

Thank you to my amazing husband for putting up with me during the last few weeks. For building our amazing faux “fireplace.” And for never ever questioning my crazy ideas, when I said I wanted to make a faux fireplace out of an old crib. Thank you for never ever once making me feel like I am asking too much, when I need errands run for this experience or any other for that matter! Thank you! And remember a deal’s a deal so you’re stuck!

And last but certainly not least thank you to every single person who donated to our Giving Tuesday campaign! The funds raised for our Giving Tuesday Campaign went directly to this Experience! We raised $1,100 from that event alone! That helped tremendously with our biggest Experience yet! We definitely went out with a bang this year and I am honored you chose Hardship Heroes to donate your hard earned funds to! Thank you, a million times THANK YOU!

As our year comes to an end remember these experiences are funded through your donations! We cannot make any of these Experiences happen without contributions! So if you’re looking for a nonprofit to donate to before the end of the year, please consider Hardship Heroes! We have a waiting list for 2023 and we would love to gift them their own Hardship Heroes Experience!

Peace & Love,

Emily