Miracle a Huge Success!

Thank you to all our great Junior League volunteers and bicycle sponsors for making this year's event wonderful. We served over 350 familes, a 17% increase from last year. We had over 50 bicycles and more than 125 large items such as tricycles, playhouses and tents.

A special thank you to our local sponsors,-

Angel Pachkowski at Photography 35, Cherry Lane Furnishings, The Learning Path (Mr. and Mrs. Claus), Sweet Dreams Ice Cream, The University of Florida, Walmart, Starbucks Coffee at Royal Park, Belk's, Sears, Park Avenue Dental, Alachua Family Dentistry, Sunshine Sanitation, Charmed Shoes and Pedicures, Amanda Prokopi and Everything Earth, and Alachua Storage.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the (League) Year!

When we gather the toys,

for good girls and good boys,

and tell parents have no fear,

All your holiday toys are right here!

There were bikes of all sizes

And playhouses and prizes

For families who needed a hand.

There were personal shoppers

And Santa photographers

Who made the event truly grand!

It's the Hap-happiest Season of All!!!

There were helmets for fitting,

And all 500 kids were getting

A gift of their very own

Thanks to your dedication

And a year's worth of preparation

Your generosity really shone!

It's the most Wonderful Time of the (League) Year!

Thank you for an amazing Miracle on Main Street 2008! I am so honored to have served you as chair of this event- a special tradition that has become a legacy of giving within our community. Let's celebrate this 19th year of giving through this event and may we continue the generosity of this League a hundred and nineteen more. Thank you to all our great Junior League volunteers and sponsors for making this year's event wonderful.

Happy Holidays,

Jenn Garrett

Sponsor-A-Bike

The Junior League of Gainesville would like to invite you to be a part of this year’s 18th annual Miracle on Main Street Event. The event provides a fun holiday atmosphere where low-income families can chose holiday gifts for their children, free of charge. The League provides breakfast and entertainment for nearly 350 families as they wait their turn to enter “Santa’s Workshop”, where they can choose one big item and several smaller toys from the “Workshop” at no cost.
In an effort to provide big-ticket items (bikes, playhouses, art desks, etc) to the most children in Gainesville, we are opening up the opportunity for individuals in the community to “sponsor-a-bike”. With a donation of only $50 or more, you can be assured that at least one child will receive a holiday gift that they will remember forever!
We have a great start with over 50 bikes being donated by our Gainesville League Members, but we would like to increase this number. With your donation, we hope to provide over 300 big-ticket items, like bikes, to the families that attend the event. Please help us reach our goal and make this a very special holiday for a child in Gainesville.
The Junior League of Gainesville is a 501(C)3 organization and donations to the “Sponsor a Bike Drive” are tax deductable.
Please make checks payable to The Junior League of Gainesville. For more information about the Junior League of Gainesville, please visit us at http://www.gainesvillejrleague.org/ . For more information about the Miracle on Main Street event, please contact event chair Jenn Garrett at jgarrettgallery@gmail.com.

Goals and Ideas for 2008

It may still be hot outside, but our committee is hard at work making sure that this year's Miracle on Main Street event goes perfectly. During our first meeting we gathered our new ideas and came up with some goals for this year's event. The ideas and goals fit into four aspects of the event: Participation, Toy Supply, Promotion, and Quality of the Event.

Participation

• Keep attendance high in the 300-350 range
• Continue tracking vouchers- focus voucher distribution to only agencies that returned vouchers in 2007
• Change voucher format to better indicate the quality (points rather than dollars) and number of toys available at event and indicate that cash will not be accepted

Funding/ Toy Supply

• Obtain 100+ “Big Items” (bikes, playhouses, etc) and continue to supply high-quality new toys
• Obtain more items for Middle School/High School age children (such as MP3Players with data storage, make-up and beauty supplies, larger bikes, etc)
• Pursue Grant Funding

• Remind Leaguers that they can donate cash rather than toys at October meeting if that is easier for them.
• Solicit outside donations through “Sponsor-A-Bike” drive
• Continue toy donation boxes at locations that have been successful in collecting toys in the past

Promotion

• Continue community awareness efforts through media (newspaper, radio, and TV)
• Inquire about focus story with Gville Sun- to follow a family before and during the event
• Increase appearance of JL info at the event (New Logo by April Schroeder/ Request for banner from Communications committee)

Quality of Event

• Family event that was welcoming to children (no cash accepted, Hand out numbers to ease tension in line, Personal shoppers to limit number for people shopping at one time and eliminate check-out, Thrift Store gift certificates for late comers when toys have all been given away)
• Santa, Mrs. Claus, Albert, Alberta and Firetruck (Santa reserved if needed)
• Free Picture with Santa- possibly coordinate with entrance to event so that the picture can be picked up after shopping is completed
• Breakfast (Chick-fil-a?, doughnuts, starbucks coffee, domino’s?)- maybe the Chick-fil-a cow and Domino character to entertain while waiting to get into event
• Port-a-pottys
• Awesome decorations (Amanda P will assist)
• Stocking/ Gift bags (school supplies?)

Highlights from 2007

The 2007 Junior League of Gainesville Miracle on Main Street (formerly known as “Toy Sale”) was a huge success. In fact, thanks to the efforts of Holly Leber and her committee from last year, we are in great shape to have another super successful l in 2008- the 18th year that the Junior League of Gainesville has hosted the event. The following is a recap of last year’s accomplishments.

Primary Goal 2007-
To develop and implement meaningful programs to positively impact the lives of children

Strategies/Results 2007

Increase Toy recipients by 5% and work with agencies to increase participation
301 families received toys from the event in 2007- which is more than a 5% increase. Committee members hand delivered vouchers to local charities to ensure that the charity understood what the sale was and could assist us by distributing vouchers to families in need. Vouchers were tagged so that we have an accurate count of how many vouchers came from which charities.

Hold Fall and Spring garage sales to raise funds and reduce large surplus of used toys unfit for use during the toy sale (toys in worn condition)
A fall garage sale was held. Inventory was reduced, but it was determined that funds generated were not worth the efforts needed to hold the garage sale. Less than $150 was raised and the sale took many hours of preparation prior to and during the sale. Spring sale was canceled.

Shopping day at local retailers to raise funds
Instead of a shopping day, the committee was able to obtain several grants from local retailers. Walmart gave $500 + 10% off each bike purchased. Target gave $75 in gift cards

Increase community awareness through media (newspaper, radio, and TV)
All three media ran stories/photos/info about the sale. Holly Leber spoke on the local segment of NPR- all things considered, TV20 took video for the evening news, and the Gainesville Sun ran a photograph with a caption that mentioned the sale

Create Children’s Corner at Thrift Shop
A children’s corner was created

Last year’s committee really left us with a great head start on next year. Here is a list of what we already have in preparation for next year’s sale.

13 GO Diego tricycles
25 bicycles
1 playhouse with slide
12-15 pretend playsets (bbq grill, play makeup mirror/brushes, mini kitchen)
12 Play tool sets
15 baseball/glove sets (some purple, some blue)
20 baseball bat/ball sets ( some purple/some blue)
9 soccer balls
2 pink Wilson tennis racquets and balls
3 footballs
7 Batting Tees

Note that our committee is no longer responsible for cleaning donated used toys and placing them in the thrift store. This task is now part of the thrift shop committee. However, our committee will still need to check with the thrift store at least twice a month to pick up any toys that are in new condition that can be given away during our event or to pick up big ticket items such as bikes/playhouses/kids tables, etc.


A Few Things We Loved From Last Year
Lots of Big Ticket Items (over 70 bikes, playhouses, skateboards, etc)
Santa, Mrs. Claus, Albert, Alberta and Firetruck
Breakfast (Chick-fil-a, doughnuts, starbucks coffee)
Awesome decorations
Great Media Coverage
Created a family event that made welcoming to bring children


(please add your favorite things from last year in the comments section)


Jenn

Welcome to JLG M.O.M.S blog

Welcome to the blog for the Junior League of Gainesville's Miracle on Main Street Event. With the mission of providing toys to children in need at the holidays, our committee will use this blog to keep each other (and the League) up to date with the latest developments toward that mission. This will be the 19th year that our League has hosted this event and our committee is set to make this year very memorable. Please enjoy browsing through the posts to see what you can do to help make this year's event a very special day for a child in need.