Shanee Walker hosted a Friendsgiving on behalf of No Kid Hungry in 2019. To help with the effort, she used the No Kid Hungry resources and took weekends and downtime in between and after work to chat with local establishments to obtain in-kind donations and discounts toward items needed for the event. Though there were many unanswered emails, the couple of yeses made all the difference.

 

Shanee received a donation of flowers from a local florist, which not only helped serve as beautiful centerpieces for the dinner table, but was also as a raffle item for the first 3 people to provide a donation during dessert. To make the day a success, she requested dietary restrictions in advance from RSVPs and had the dinner catered by a local restaurant. Upon sharing the details of this Friendsgiving dinner, the restaurant worked within my budget and kindly donated an extra dish and dessert towards the day. One local establishment provided a special “No Kid Hungry” discount code for the week leading up to Friendsgiving. This code gave 10% off items, and 15% of the purchase and proceeds were donated directly to No Kid Hungry.

 

In the end, the day was a success, the message of No Kid Hungry really touched the hearts of my loved ones and local establishments, and Shanee exceeded her fundraising goal, raising enough to provide over 6,500 meals to children in need.

 

For the Friendsgiving event last November, Sandi was motivated to try to help as many kids as possible, saying “I find child hunger to be heart-breaking, and yet something that can be addressed by many people.”

 

Sandi saw the No Kid Hungry Friendsgiving challenge on Facebook, and wanted to have a fun event with many of her friends at OrangeTheory Fitness (OTF) in South Carolina.

 

Typically, the studio holds one or two fun, non-class activities each month, and has helped a few local nonprofits with collection drives, or raffles for donated prizes, as well as classes that would have an extra fee, to go towards a charitable group.

 

Sandi asked the studio manager if she could hold a similar class, with No Kid Hungry as the beneficiary of the class fees. The coach said yes and donated her time to guide everyone through a workout, and then they had a Friendsgiving event after, where many attendees brought baked goods, turkey sandwiches, and other “Thanksgiving” types of foods and snacks.

 

Sandi took her Friendsgiving to the next level to raise even more for No Kid Hungry by hosting a raffle at her event. She collected many donated raffle prizes, including autographed footballs and gift certificates. All attendees even received a small thank you gift, including a cookie gift certificate, candies and lip balm to thank them for attending her fundraiser.

 

“My favorite part of participating in the Friendsgiving campaign was seeing folks willingly give, whether they received something in return or not. I look forward to helping No Kid Hungry again this year. These kids need our help and support.”

 

Pride and Joy of Avon Childcare host an annual fundraiser for No Kid Hungry and they didn’t let Covid-19 stop them this past year. In years past, they would invite parents and family members to donate in exchange for joining them for a Friendsgiving lunch. However, with Covid-19, the childcare center didn’t allow anyone extra into the facility, so they had to get creative.  “We served students a traditional ‘Friendsgiving’ feast, and sent home treat bags with Thanksgiving crafts. For each person that donated, we entered them into a pie raffle! On the day of ‘Friendsgiving’, we drew names and sent home over a dozen delicious pies! To our shock, we raised more than we ever have before, totaling over 1,000 dollars towards No Kid Hungry! What a great way to carry on a tradition, in a safe way, that helped us to raise even more money for No Kid Hungry.” Even though gatherings and fundraisers may look a bit different this year, don’t let that hold you back when planning your event, get creative and have fun with it!

Sean and Jillian have hosted Friendsgiving’s for No Kid Hungry for the past five years. The main reason they host a Friendsgiving each year is because they are both very passionate about helping children, in particular around hunger issues.

 

Over the years they have gotten creative and have come up with different themes each year, from taco assembly lines to dinner being delivered right to people’s doors.  “We just love coming up with themes,” shared Jillian.  “We’ve had Friendsgiving brunch, Southern Friendsgiving, Mexican Friendsgiving and, last year, socially-distanced delivery Friendsgiving.” This year due to the ongoing pandemic they opted to not host again in person, but that didn’t keep them from surpassing their $6,500 goal. Their theme this year? you ask. It was a Zoom Thanksgiving. To make it interesting they hosted a Zoom fundraiser which included a cooking demo and Q&A session with celebrity chef Jen Carroll from Bravo’s Top Chef. We love how creative they got with their virtual fundraiser.

 

Their favorite tip to share is that “there are no rules, so have fun with it!  Have a new baby?  Host a Friendsgiving brunch (our solution when our daughter was 1).  Have friends who worried about getting bored with Thanksgiving food? Host a Mexican Friendsgiving with turkey meat tacos, etc.”

 

Camerynn and Brady hosted a curbside-style Friendsgiving bake sale last year.  Proving that you can host a Friendsgiving that doesn’t involved a seated dinner.

They raised $1,030 by offering assorted sweets in three different size boxes with curbside pickup for everyone (with masks!). They also added a special personal touch by including homemade cards with everyone’s box. This was their 5^th year hosting a fundraiser for No Kid Hungry.

Brenda decided to host her Friendsgiving in September. When brainstorming for her blog, she realized she would have a lot of work to do creating an entire holiday meal weeks before hosting another one, so she enlisted the help of friends to take some of the load off. Brenda had the cake, flowers and location of her event donated by friends and local businesses. Brenda thought, “If I am going to be hosting an entire thanksgiving meal for friends, I want it to help a good cause.” That is when she found out about No Kid Hungry and our Friendsgiving program.

 

“And in the spirit of the holiday season, it is so important to seek ways to give back to your favorite charities to support causes that are near to your heart. In my home, there is never any shortage of food or meals and we are so lucky for that. Undoubtedly, my children really take for granted the meals that they receive. Which is why No Kid Hungry and their mission really hit a chord with me. The thought of children and families who are struggling for the most basic necessity of nourishment makes me very sad, indeed.”

In the past, my husband and I have cooked a main course of turkey, gravy and cranberry, and our friends have each brought a side. This year, because we love to cook and entertain, we decided to make it more of a food and wine pairing dinner, and asked our guests just to bring themselves and consider donating a little extra to the cause in lieu of bringing a dish or a bottle of wine. We made a fall salad with arugula, pears, candied pecans and goat cheese, and then cooked beef tenderloins sous vide, seared them and served the fleets with a whipped horseradish cream sauce, roasted asparagus with parmesan & crispy herbed new potatoes, and a pear/apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

 

For additional fundraising efforts, I also posted my personal fundraising page to all of my social media pages. Since this is my 4th year, I have established a relationship with some local vendors for small discounts on party rentals/serve wear and flowers, and this year Hestan Vineyards even donated a case of wine for our event.  AXR Winery also donated a silent auction item of a VIP tasting and reserve bottle from the owner’s personal cellar, which also helped to raise money. I hope to add more of these fun silent auction items next year. Each year, we try to make it a little bigger and better. I was excited to reach just over my goal of $2,000 this year, as it was the most raised ever.