Duke Children's Hospital Toy Drive 2016

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​The Duke Children's Hospital Toy Drive of 2016 was a huge success! Thank you so much to my dear friend, Katy, who was the sweet lady behind the idea to donate these toys in honor of Riley and Riley's Rainbows in the first place! She truly has a heart of gold! Of course, when she brought the idea up to us we were thrilled and jumped in wholeheartedly. Anytime we have the opportunity to put smiles on deserving children's faces and honor our angel at the same time is a win-win!

And what a win it was! Thanks to Katy's co-workers, family, friends, the fundraising purchases and donations that we received through Riley's Rainbows, Cub Scout Pack 511, Bad Daddy's Burger Bar at Seaboard Station and their generous employees and patrons we had to make two separate deliveries to Duke Children's Hospital to deliver all of the gifts!
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Unfortunately, Katy was not able to get any photos the day she delivered the first round of gifts, but yesterday my husband, Rob, and our amazing friend, Amanda from Bad Daddy's, delivered a LITERAL truckload of toys and were able to get some awesome photos as well! My Expedition was truly filled to the brim (all the way to the front seat!) with toys!

When I went to Bad Daddy's at Seaboard Station Sunday night to see the tree and all of the donations, I was overwhelmed with emotion... (Can we say ugly cry?!) Cov DeRamus of Bad Daddy's and his AWESOME team did an amazing job of collecting toys, decorating their beautiful tree and even making a very special handpainted banner and ornaments!
Words cannot express how happy it makes us that the children at Duke Children's Hospital will have so much love and kindness to look forward to this Christmas. These kids and their families deserve as much love and happiness as we can give them. So let's all make sure we take the time to say a special prayer for them this holiday season. After all, isn't that what Christmas is all about?

This Christmas is a very tough one for Rob and me, but I can tell you that it truly warms our hearts thinking of the people that came together to make this happen in honor of Riley. Thank you to all, our sweet angel is certainly smiling down on every last one of you this holiday season!

Many prayers of love, hope and strength to all of the children and families at Duke Children's Hospital this holiday season. May God bless you all! #rileysrainbows