Kids and Families Together
Gift~Away Events
Free events for foster/resource, kinship, adoptive and birth families receiving services from Kids & Families Together. Evento gratuito para familias de KFT adoptivas, de recursos, de parentesco, y biologicas.
Donation Drive
Caregiver Appreciation Event 2022
We are seeking care items for our appreciation bags to show caregivers how much we are grateful for them for everything they do for the children in their care!
Purchase from our Amazon wish-list:
https://a.co/aMetj6w
Make a monetary donation so we can purchase items for the caregiver appreciation gift bags:
https://igfn.us/form/D6kEng
Event Registration Procedure
Dear K&FT Families,
We have a new procedure for signing up for our events and gift~aways.
In order to sign-up for our events, the staff person working with you will complete the registration. Through your KFT staff member, you can expect to attend at least one event per year. KFT serves hundreds of Ventura County families per year. We are working hard to serve all of our families at our events with essential goods and other donations.
Please contact your staff member to register (peer partner & educator, parent educator/parent advocate, clinician or program admin staff member). Once registered, you will receive a registration confirmation email within one week of the scheduled event. If you are unable to attend the event, you must contact your staff person or ext. 108/131 within 48 hours of the scheduled event. We always have a waitlist and we want to serve as many families at our events as possible. Thank you for understanding.
For questions regarding your peer partner & educator, contact 805-643-1446 ext. 253. For other inquiries, contact ext. 202 or events@kidsandfamilies.org.
Estimadas familias de K&FT,
Tenemos un nuevo procedimiento para inscribirse en nuestros eventos y obsequios
Para inscribirse en nuestros eventos, la persona del personal que trabaja con usted completará el registro. A través de su miembro del personal de KFT, puede esperar asistir al menos a un evento por año. KFT sirve a cientos de familias del condado de Ventura por año. Trabajamos arduamente para servir a todas nuestras familias en nuestros eventos con bienes esenciales y otras donaciones.
Comuníquese con su miembro del personal para registrarse (compañero y educador, educador de padres / defensor de padres, médico o miembro del personal administrativo del programa). Una vez registrado, recibirá un correo electrónico de confirmación de registro dentro de una semana del evento programado. Si no puede asistir al evento, debe comunicarse con su personal o con la ext. 108/131 dentro de las 48 horas posteriores al evento programado. Siempre tenemos una lista de espera y queremos servir a tantas familias en nuestros eventos como sea posible. Gracias por entender.
Si tiene preguntas sobre su compañero y educador, comuníquese al 805-643-1446 ext. 253. Para otras consultas, comuníquese con la ext. 202 o events@kidsandfamilies.org.
Archived Gift~Away Events
2021-2022
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!
Your support helps to remind us all to take time out and find those special moments to honor, celebrate and just give thanks. We are thankful for you! 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!
Harvest Fest Gift~Away 2021,
October 16th in Ventura
We had an amazing Harvest Fest Gift~Away 2021 with your help!
Please see below for event highlights and our photo gallery!
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!
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!
New Shoes for You, September 18, 2021
Children will be able to pick out their own pair of shoes from a local store and we will pay for them at that time.
Our 11th Annual Backpack Gift Away Event was Amazing!
August 14, 2021, Ventura
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!
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!
Bike Rodeo Event
June 19, 2021
Saturday, June 19, 2021 from 10am – 1pm, 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
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!
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
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!
Caregiver Appreciation Gift~Away Event
February 27, 2021, Ventura
Check out the photo gallery from the event: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aXdWFWdWaWz2BUuv6.
We were able to serve 43 caregivers and show them how much we care about them and everything they do for the children in their care.
We provided each family with a $50 gift card donated from Gene Haas Foundation, toys for the children and like new clothing, a self-care bag filled with lotion, lip balm, tea, tissue, a box of goodies by Soul Flour Bakery and more. They also received a box filled with a variety of home goods donated by Tuesday Morning, laundry detergent purchased at cost from Grocery Outlet Ventura, and lastly, a yummy cupcake for each caregiver.
We always feel so much gratitude with the support and generosity given toward our events-for our families! We are grateful to our donors who helped us show our families how much we care about them: Gene Haas Foundation, Cooper’s Downtown Closet, Crosspointe Church’s clothing closet, Grocery Outlet Ventura, Shelter Care Resources, Tuesday Morning, Soul Flour Bakery, individual donors and those who purchased from our Amazon wish-list.
We had a special guest appearance by Mrs. USA Universal-Wendy Lerian, who, during the drive-thru event, was an amazing cheerleader for our families and provided toy tiaras to all the children.
We were able to have an amazing event due to our 18 volunteers who helped with setting up, providing the wonderful donations during the event and then helped with clean-up. Special thank you to our events planning committee with Lisa Wolf and Kaitlyn & her family! You all rock! We truly could not do what we do without the help of our volunteers…they bring the magic to our events!
Thank you everyone for your support, dedication, and commitment to serving our families! Each one of us makes a difference!
Cozy Holiday Gift~Away Event
December 12, 2020, Ventura
This event has always captured the heart of the holiday season and this year, especially this year, was no different! Please enjoy the picture gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/n8Ey2NfihaMweWTS6
Cozy Holiday 2020 was a contactless, drive-thru event set up with beautiful holiday themed booths. Families were able to drive through and view … a Train Depot, Gingerbread Village, the Grinch’s Sleigh and Santa’s Toy Shoppe. Children also dropped off letters (in a safe way) to Santa & Mrs. Clause as they drove by Santa’s Living Room. Approximately 166 children from 58 families were served by this event. Carrie McAuliffe Sandoval, a member of the event organizing team commented, “Every single family came through the event. That’s never happened before that I can recall. We typically sign up 20% extra knowing not everyone will show up for one reason or another… not this time, we were at 100% attendance! The need is great this year, and we’re doing our little part.” Families were provided items such as store gift cards, toys, bikes, electronics, pajamas and throw-blankets. Despite the current situation, this was a fun family event with music, lots of holiday decorations and treats! McAuliffe Sandoval continues, “On any given day, all together it was a fantastic event… on a day during a pandemic… we knocked this one out of the park! All the way to the North Pole!” Cozy Holiday was blessed again this year with continued partnerships from so many organizations and families. They keep ‘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, Crosspointe Church Ventura, James Storehouse, Port Hueneme CA Toys for Tots, Project Bicycle Love, United Way of Ventura County, Spark of Love Toy Drive, Fire Departments of Ventura County, CHiPs for Kids CHP Toy Drive, St. Jude’s Catholic Community, Temple Beth Torah, My Stuff Bags Foundation, Sinaloa Middle School, Rotary Club of Simi Valley, Shelter Care Resources, Valentino’s Take & Bake Pizza, Kelsey Contreras & staff of Old Navy Pacific View Mall (for warm and cozy pajamas), Donna & David Pu’u of Betty Belts/Ocean Room Gallery (for beautiful sea glass jewelry), Left Coast Parrot Heads, What the Fifty’s Group, residents of GranVida Senior Living & Memory Care of Carpinteria (for beautiful handmade blankets), Roxanne & Keira Danielsen representing Camarillo Amber’s Light Lions Club, Lennie Vilches representing Sunrise Optimist Club of Ventura the McKee Family, the Kirwin Family, the Montes Family, the Wolf Family, the Woolley Family, Soulflour Bakeshop with Stephanie Cruz, Tuesday Morning, and the SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Honda Team!
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!
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