Holiday fun for families (and it’s gonna snow in South Central!)

We’re just days away from our biggest community event of the year!

On December 15th, thousands of children and their parents will enjoy our annual Home for the Holidays community celebration. Our guests will meet Santa, play carnival games, receive gifts of toys and books — and even get to play in the snow!

It’s a party that involves partners from across Southern California. Friends who’ve donated gifts, money, and time so that families can enjoy this very special day of holiday fun together.

Home for the Holidays meets a great need in our neighborhood, not only serving the 750 kids already in our program, but opening our campus to those on our waiting list and the entire South Central community.

It’s an all-night party!

You may not know this, but families start lining up around 4 p.m. the evening before the event and stay all night on the street in front of A Place Called Home. The spirit is joyful, but it’s a cold and long wait ‘til morning.

So, this year, we’ve partnered with Starbucks and Netflix to give families some fun while they’re waiting. We’re closing 29th Street and setting up an outdoor movie screen. We’ll have music, movies, food and an emcee to give them a great time the night before the event.

Members, alumni, their families, and the whole community will join to play in the snow, do arts and crafts, get their faces painted, play carnival games, visit Santa, win prizes, and so much more!

A gift for every precious child

Thanks to generous partners and donors all over L.A., each child who comes to Home for the Holidays this year will receive a toy, an article of clothing, and a book. Our community partners have provided

generously so that we could expand this popular family event and make sure everyone has a great time.

Corporate sponsors have run toy drives at their holiday celebrations. This year, Starbucks has donation bins in 400 of their Southern California stores so everyone can donate a gift. We’re so blessed to be able to make sure that no one leaves empty-handed!

Many thanks to our volunteers, donors, and partners

In addition to cocoa and pastries, Starbucks sends a workforce to serve alongside our staff and volunteers. iHeartRadio sends an emcee and gives out prizes. And this year, Netflix is providing the movie night. We couldn’t ask for more love from our community!

More than 200 volunteers make this event a great success! Snow arrives around 4 a.m. and we’ll lay down about 40 tons of the cold white stuff in our athletic field for the day’s activities. At 7 a.m. the festivities begin. It’s wonderful to see our staff, volunteers, and partners working side by side to make this day so special.

There’s still time to donate if you’d like to participate in this special day for our community. We can’t wait to share pictures of children in the snow and receiving their gifts. The look on their faces will say it all!