Dawn's Children's Christmas Fund
Donation protected
Dawn has always been interested in working with charities. Here is her story on how, and why she decided to start this incredible project:
I was always interested in raising money for charities. But I found that not 100% of the money goes to the cause. So I decided to start my own charity where I know 100% of the money goes to the children in need. So I started this over 20 yrs ago and it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year because of so many people finding out about it. I work closely with the Department of Children's Services, KICKO(Knoxville Inner City Kids Organization), and the Relative Caregiver Program. These organizations give me the names of children in Knoxville that will not have a CHRISTMAS if it wasn't for us. These children have either lost their parents, parents are in prison, 1 or both parents are drug addicts, they have been abused, etc. It's sad to think what they have all gone through at such a young age. So we buy each child a toy valued between $30-50. I wrap each toy and I personally hand delivery the gifts to the children. This year I have over 400 children. The delivery date will be in early December. We have a sit down lunch for them and then we hand out the gifts. It is so amazing to see that child's face when you call their name out and their face just lights up when you hand them their gift from "Santa". I have attached some pictures from last year. A few of the pics are of my home before we hand delivery the gifts. It's awesome to see so many people come together and help these precious children feel loved at Christmas. It seems so little but it is probably the best thing that happens to these children all year.
I truly appreciate any and all support and donations. Please know that you are directly making it possible for a child to have a blessed holiday season.
Thank you you so very much for considering our cause,
Dawn
I was always interested in raising money for charities. But I found that not 100% of the money goes to the cause. So I decided to start my own charity where I know 100% of the money goes to the children in need. So I started this over 20 yrs ago and it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year because of so many people finding out about it. I work closely with the Department of Children's Services, KICKO(Knoxville Inner City Kids Organization), and the Relative Caregiver Program. These organizations give me the names of children in Knoxville that will not have a CHRISTMAS if it wasn't for us. These children have either lost their parents, parents are in prison, 1 or both parents are drug addicts, they have been abused, etc. It's sad to think what they have all gone through at such a young age. So we buy each child a toy valued between $30-50. I wrap each toy and I personally hand delivery the gifts to the children. This year I have over 400 children. The delivery date will be in early December. We have a sit down lunch for them and then we hand out the gifts. It is so amazing to see that child's face when you call their name out and their face just lights up when you hand them their gift from "Santa". I have attached some pictures from last year. A few of the pics are of my home before we hand delivery the gifts. It's awesome to see so many people come together and help these precious children feel loved at Christmas. It seems so little but it is probably the best thing that happens to these children all year.
I truly appreciate any and all support and donations. Please know that you are directly making it possible for a child to have a blessed holiday season.
Thank you you so very much for considering our cause,
Dawn
Organizer and beneficiary
Jana Laurin
Organizer
Knoxville, TN
Dawn Tesh
Beneficiary
