Past Gift~Away Events
Highlights from our most recent events!
On August 10, 2024 we hosted our Annual Back to School Event~New Shoes for You.
With the support of our donors, partners, volunteers and community members, we were able to serve 97 children and
their families with new shoes, back to school supplies, backpacks, socks, and activity kits!
Holiday Giving 2023
Thank you to all of our donors, partners, and volunteers for helping us serve over 100 children in care with their families for the holiday season!
You helped make their holiday celebration more special and filled with warm and joyful memories.
Check out our event photo gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/udqaHf4YYHPkBPdT8
We had an amazing 2nd Annual Caregiver Appreciation Gift~Away event this past Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, located at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura!
With support from our generous donors, partners and our hard working volunteers, we were able to serve approximately 50 caregivers with a gift card, self-care goody bag, home goods, shoes/clothing, blankets, toys, treats, and a beautifully decorated photo opportunity! Our hope was for each of the families to feel cared for and appreciated for everything they do for the children in their care…I believe we made that happen!
We cannot do what we do without the support from our community!
Our partners and volunteers are invaluable to our organization and our gift~away events. We thank them for spending the day with us and we hope they enjoyed being of service to the families we serve!
Our donors and partners included: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for the beautiful location, with funding from the California Family Resource Association and Gene Haas Foundation, we were able to provide gift cards, self-care items and treats for our caregivers/food for our volunteers, we received donations from Tuesday Morning and Rosie Villa liquidator, and individual donations, Sharkey’s donated a % off our lunch for volunteers and Starbuck’s donated coffee, Hello Mai Darling donated a % off donuts for our caregivers, a monetary donation from JR Bookkeeping and UU Church of Ventura, and Meathead Movers donated four movers to help throughout the day. We are grateful!
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We also had approximately 45 volunteers who helped throughout the day. We are not able to host our events without the tremendous support from our volunteers: community members, families such as the McKees, Kwasts, Rodriguezes, Wolfs, Duquettes, and the Whatley family, schools such as Buena HS, CSUCI, Rancho Campana HS, Pacifica HS, Girl Scouts, CHP Explorers, and Meathead Movers.
We had a blast and we are looking forward to our next event on April 9th for our Annual Spring Fling Gift~Away…stay tuned for more information coming soon!
Highlights from our
Season of Giving 2021
2021
Check out our Season of Giving 2021 Photo Gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ys9UFjo6pg7zKTgeA
Kids & Families Together and Heart 2 Heart hosted our Season of Giving 2021 for the Ventura County Foster/Resource, Kinship, Adoptive and Bio-Families served in our programs. Thank you to David & Faith, our events planning committee, staff and our board of directors for continuing to support our efforts, and especially during this challenging year. This Season of Giving 2021 we were able to help our families by providing gift cards, toys, bikes with helmets, pajamas, blankets, teen items, artificial trees, food share boxes and more! With the contributions from donors, we were able to serve approximately 340 children with 127 families at our Cozy Holiday Gift~Away event, after our event for those families who were not able to attend, winners from our bike and tree drawing, gift deliveries with our Door Dash partner, and through our Adopt-A-Family program!
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Here is what some of our caregivers have to say who benefited from our holiday giving, “thank you for everything and all the blessings, thank you for helping us, thank you for your generous spirit, thank you for caring and sharing…this made our Christmas possible and bright!”
Cozy Holiday Gift~Away 2021 Highlights….this event has always captured the heart of the holiday season and this year, was no different!
Cozy Holiday 2021 was a walk-up event this year with a beautiful set up including holiday themed booths, Santa’s Toy Shoppe, Santa’s Living Room, and a Nightmare Before Christmas booth. The need was great again this year and with amazing support from our community, we were able to provide to the children in care with their families a gift card, toys, sport balls, electronics, teen items with gift cards, pajamas, stuffed animals, throw-blankets, and more! This was a fun family event with music, lots of holiday decorations and holiday spirit from all. Families were able to shop for the children and this year we had a tent just for teens. The teens were able to pick out a few items and receive a gift card. We hope they felt cared for and made their holiday celebration special! Children were able to pick out an ornament craft kit and make a holiday thank you card. Before getting a picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus, children were also able to drop off their Santa letter in a handmade mailbox. Cozy Holiday was blessed again this year with continued partnerships from so many organizations and families. Thank you for showing up for the families we serve in devoted and astonishing ways!
We would like to thank our partners & donors who made this event possible…
The Gene Haas Foundation, California Family Resource Association, Spark of Love Toy Drive, Fire Departments of Ventura County, CHiPs for Kids CHP Toy Drive, St. Jude’s Catholic Community~Loaves & Fishes, Rotary Club of Simi Valley, James Storehouse, Project Bicycle Love, Betty Belts, Roxanne & Keira Danielsen representing Camarillo Amber’s Light Lions Club, Left Coast Parrot Heads, Vivian & Angel with Glitter Brunch, Ford Dealership of Ventura, Forty Leaguers of Ventura, including individuals, and those who purchased from our Amazon wish-list.
We are also extremely grateful to our numerous volunteers who helped us prep for the event and the day of the event. We are only able to do what we do with the caring hearts and dedication of our countless volunteers! Our volunteers help to make a difference in the lives of our families and during a critical time where help is needed the most!
Highlights from our
Harvest Fest Gift~Away 2021
October 16th in Ventura
We had an amazing Harvest Fest Gift~Away 2021 with your help!
Check out our photo gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RqQ8wrW6eaNL6PCJA
Kids & Families Together and Heart 2 Heart hosted our 12th Annual Harvest Fest Gift~Away on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at Crosspointe Church, 5415 Ralston St., in Ventura. We are grateful to Crosspointe Church for the amazing event location! It was a beautiful and warm day with the parking lot full of decorated booths, music & bubbles. We could not have had such a wonderful event without the generosity from our donors and partners: Crosspointe Church, Gene Haas, Walmart, James Storehouse-costumes galore, St. Jude’s Loaves & Fishes, NP High School-Wings to Grow, Tuesday Morning, Amber’s Light, LC Parrot Heads, My Gym, Got Rhythm, So Cal Helpful Honda Team, Coffee Bean, VPD, K-9 and CHP, Wendy Homan-volunteer treats, Lynn Okun-amazing event signs, and Steve-owner of the cool old red truck! Thank you all!
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Many of our volunteers and patrons dressed up in costume and many of the families decorated their cars for a Harvest Parade! We were able to serve 135 children with 53 families providing: pirate treasures, Halloween bags filled with candy, coloring sheets, stuffed animals, toys, flashlights, hand sanitizer, masks, pens/pencils, stamps, takis treats, pumpkins, more candy, pumpkin decorating kits, new costumes/coats, clothing, shoes, household goods and more! The children and families driving through the event had so much fun and enjoyed getting out of their cars for a picture with VPD/K-9 Deco & CHP, also in the pumpkin patch area, and picking out their own pumpkins!
Our amazing Trunk o’ Treat included….Crimson Tide Pirates, Day of the Dead, Walmart-Witches, Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Bart the Bat, Ghost Busters, Scare Crow, Skeletons with VPD-Sean/K-9-Deco and CHP-Steve, David’s Pumpkin Patch, Nightmare Before Christmas, Black Cat, and our costume, coats and give-away areas! Wow!
With the help of our donors and partners, 135 children in care and 53 families were able to enjoy a wonderful experience together!
We had over 60 volunteers throughout the day who helped make this a spooky and fun event!
We could not do what we do without the amazing support of our volunteers: Walmart, Amber’s Light-Danielsen family & Katherine, Left Coast Parrot Heads, Catherine Davis & the Crimson Tide Pirates, VPD-Sean, K-9-Deco & CHP-Steve, Coffee Bean employees/family, Got Rhythm, Newbury Park-Wings to Grow, Turquoise Division-Youth, Becker & McKee family, Rodriguez family, Jennifer Heuertz and family, Helpful Honda, Lisa Wolf, Jeannie Ortega, Robyn our photographer, Quetellen Johnson, Summer Khouvilay, Ernesto Sandoval, Jonathan Dudley, Kaley Robinso, Jack Goldberg, Nora Asp, and many other individuals. We are extremely grateful to our events planning committee and the KFT staff who helped at the event~ Alex, Jamie, Gina, Kim, and Amy! Thank you for your service and working so hard to help us put on a spectacular event for the families we serve!
Happy Harvest & Halloween everyone!
Highlights from our
New Shoes for You
September 18, 2021
58 Children were able to pick out their own pair of shoes from Walmart in Oxnard. With help from our donors, we were able to pay for the shoes at that time.
Thank you to our partners, donors and volunteers who helped put many smiles on children’s faces and new shoes on their feet!
Highlights from our
Backpack Gift~Away Event
August 14, 2021, Ventura
Our 11th Annual Backpack Gift Away Event was Amazing!
Check out our picture gallery! https://photos.app.goo.gl/WNc6FyFEEtgtsXpa6
Kids & Families Together (K&FT), Heart 2 Heart, with River Community Church, hosted our 11th Annual Backpack Gift~Away Drive-Thru event on Saturday, August 14th in Ventura for 160 foster/resource, kinship, adopted and bio children with their 75 families, who are currently working in programs with Kids & Families Together.
Thank you to our partners, donors, and volunteers for helping make our back to school event this year magical for Foster/Resource, Kinship, Adoptive, and Bio-families Currently Working with Kids & Families Together!
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This year’s theme was Pirates & Mermaids! As with prior drive-thru events, our guests and volunteers had a great time dressing in costume or decorating their vehicles! It was a beautiful day at River Community Church for our back to school gift~away event with pirate & mermaid decorations, live music, and sparkly bubbles…..making it fun for all! With 50 jolly buccaneer volunteers, we provided backpacks filled with age appropriate school supplies, clothing and other donations. As families left the event, a box lunch was provided, allowing them the opportunity to enjoy a nice afternoon picnic together at the beach or a local park.
We are grateful to everyone who make this event possible and for helping so many children in care return to school with confidence and the supplies they need for a fun and successful school year! Until our next adventure…..Shoes for You in September!
Highlights from our
Bike Rodeo Event
June 19, 2021, Ventura
With our partners, donors, volunteers and support from our community, we were able to serve over 80 children at our bike safety event and over 12 children learned how to ride a bike. We are pleased each child learned skills on how to ride a bike/safety, enhance bike skills, and received a helmet/fitting. We also provided bike checks, treats, a grab bag and more! We were able to prove over 40 bikes to children who did not have a bike…thanks to our wonderful donors!
Check out our Bike Rodeo 2021 photo gallery! There are amazing pictures from our event:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mbAPsM59KFKstorH9
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We are grateful to our partners and sponsors for donating helmets, bikes, coloring books, bikes safety gear, and more:
- Crosspointe Church
- Bike Ventura
- CHP Ventura and retirees, CHP Moorpark, and CHP San Luis Obispo
- The Gene Haas Foundation
- Project Bicycle Love
- Royal Family Camp
- Amber’s Light Camarillo
- The Local Love Project
- Open Air Bicycles
- Raising Hope
- Community members
Also, we had a successful event due to our dedicated and amazing volunteers from:
Bike Ventura, CHP, Amber’s Light, Left Coast Parrot Heads and our local community! We are grateful for their service and helping so many children in care…just in time for some Summer fun… in the sun and on their bikes! We cannot do what we do without the help of others! We are truly grateful!
Highlights from our
Spring Fling Gift~Away 2021
Thank you for Supporting our Annual “Spring Fling” Gift-Away Event!
Held to support Ventura County Foster/Resource Families, Kinship Families, Adoptive Families, and Bio-families currently working alongside Kids & Families Together.
Please cruise through our picture gallery from our Spring Fling Gift~Away Event, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fymgfnefYVhzdRdTA
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On behalf of Kids & Families Together and Heart 2 Heart, we would like to thank you for your generous in-kind donation toward our 2021 “Spring Gift~Away” event in support for the families served in our programs. We want to thank you for your support during this challenging year. We are grateful for you! From one of the caregivers who attended our event, “it was my first gift~away event and it was wonderful!”
Last year, Spring Fling 2020 was the only event we had to cancel, so we really tried to make up for that this year!
Spring Fling 2021 was a contactless, drive-thru event featuring the Spring Bunny and a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and Channel Islands from the foothills of Ventura. With your support, we served 154 foster/resource, kinship, adopted and birth children living with 54 families. Children and families were provided with items such as: gift cards, luggage, spring-time themed baskets, teen items, toys, clothing and more! Despite the current situation, our family-centered event was filled with music, bubbles, decorated booths, a dance troop from Got Rhythm and well-wishers ( our volunteers)! Families were able to stop for a socially distanced picture with the Spring Bunny and with Officer Steve from Ventura CHP. For many of us, the best part of the day was seeing the eyes of the children lite up when waving at the Spring Bunny!
We would like to thank our partners & donors who made this event possible:
We are grateful to Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura for being our host this year by providing us with this location and the spectacular backdrop direct from Mother-Nature herself! The Gene Haas Foundation (gift cards for our families and teens), Old Navy @ Pacific View Mall-The GAP ( much needed funds ), Ventura CHP-Chips For Kids (toys and gift cards for teens), James Storehouse (Spring baskets), St. Jude’s Catholic Church-Loaves & Fishes (Spring baskets), Newbury Park High School-Wings to Grow (Spring baskets), My Stuff Bags (for teens), Peninsula Luggage, Amber’s Light Lion’s Club (in-kind donations), Left Coast Parrot Heads (in-kind), Shelter Care Resources (clothing), Valentino’s (sandwiches for our volunteers), Free Store (clothing), Crosspointe Church ( storage ), Genesis Programs, Inc. (bunny suit), Cooper’s Closet (clothing and more), Tuesday Morning (household goods), Poinsettia Painters (painted backpacks), Trader Joe’s (bags), SoCal Honda Helpers (2 toddler cars), Volunteer Ventura County-United Way, and to all the wonderful individuals and families filling our wish list via Amazon!
We are also extremely grateful to our numerous volunteers:
Thank you to our volunteers who come from all over Ventura County to support our families. Thank you for showing up to our families and helping them in astonishing ways. We are grateful to those who helped us prepare for the event and for those who attended the day of the event. We are only able to do what we do with the caring hearts and dedication of our countless volunteers! Striving alongside our volunteers allows for positive experiences for the children.
A very special thank you to the McKee Family, Wolf Family and Danielsen Family,
Amber’s Light Lion’s Club, Left Coast Parrot Heads, Corey Branchflower of Shelter Care Resources, SoCal Honda Helpers, Got Rhythm dance troop, Ventura Downtown Lion’s Club, Ventura Rotary Club, Amanda the amazing Bunny of the Poland Family ( and her hubby, Rob ), Girl Scout Troop 65218, and individual community members who found their way to us via Volunteer Ventura County-United Way.
Together, we are stronger!