Hope for the Holidays was created by the Jim & Tabitha Furyk Foundation in 2011 as an opportunity for families to pack bags of shelf-stable holiday meals for families and kids that have been identified as food insecure in Duval and St. Johns counties The foundation provides the funding and products for the holiday meals while hosting this hands-on volunteer opportunity. Hope for the Holidays has increased the number of bags delivered to families in need from 500 in 2011 to over 5,000 this year.
In 2022, Hope for the Holidays distributed over 5,000 bags and 90,000+ food items were distributed to the following organizations:
- 3,940 bags to Blessings in a Backpack students
- 385 bags to Guardian Catholic School families
- 300 bags to our Military families at NAS Jacksonville
- 100 bags to Family Links, Wolfson Children’s Hospital
- 100 bags to MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation children
- 36 bags to Daniel Kids families
- 30 bags to Community PedsCare families
- 20 bags to Hubbard House
- 11,000+ food items went to stock pantries across Jacksonville for Jewish Family & Community Services and Feeding Northeast Florida
- 29 Duval, St. Johns & Clay County Schools received holiday bags in the Blessings in a Backpack program
Thank you to our individual sponsors and our table sponsors for helping to raise over $20,000 to purchase additional food items for our families.
2022 Table Sponsors & Food Donors: AT&T, Conagra, Pepsi, Ring Power, Truist, The Bates Family, The Bucher Family, The Walker Family, Southern Oak Insurance, The Burdeshaw Family, Feeding Northeast Florida, The DuBow Family Foundation, Merrill Lynch – The Pajcic Group, Power Tee, Gyo Greens, Target and J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
A special THANK YOU to all of those who came to help set up and load bags, including: Bolles Lacrosse, Nease Lacrosse, Providence Honor Society, Creekside Cheerleaders, CAA, Truist, Topgolf, Power Tee, Family Links/Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Jacksonville Public Education Fund.
Each bag was packed with 14 items, including: canned ham, turkey stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, pasta, chicken noodle soup, cream of mushroom soup, vienna sausage, corned beef, corn muffin mix, applesauce, Aquafina bottled water and candy canes.
