SOS Volunteers Light Up the Village

Each December, neighbors and friends who support SOS Children’s Villages – Florida come together one last time to create a beautiful holiday gift for the 75 boys and girls calling the Village home. They literally “Light Up the Village” for the holidays.

The annual event invites special friends- businesses, civic groups, and families- to adopt one of our homes to transform the village into a winter wonderland for our kids and spread holiday cheer. This year 15 groups brought close to 200 volunteers to SOS on Saturday, December 5 to hang more than 90,000 glowing lights on the eaves of each of our 12 homes and in the trees and bushes around the Village.

The SOS children said thank you by serving fresh baked cookies to volunteers and helping untangle lights.

“There is nothing more special than sharing the holidays with a child,” says SOS Chief Development Officer Debbie Levine. “It’s even more wonderful to experience through the eyes of our 75 foster children, some of whom are celebrating the holidays for the first time. ‘Light Up the Village’ is our chance to share this special time with the community that gives so much to help our kids.”

With decorating complete and the lights shining bright, the SOS families continued to celebrate into the evening with a holiday party in the SOS Community Center, hosted for the second year by Melitta USA. As the children gathered around the newly decorated Christmas tree and enjoyed the party, they were already dreaming of their holiday wish list for Santa and excited about the fun activities that would come with their winter break.

Special thanks to the Bluegreen Corporation; the Florida Marlins Community Foundation; the Kiwanis Clubs of Coral Springs, Greater Sunrise, Lauderdale Lakes, and Tamarac; NAAAHR; NCCI Holdings; New City Presbyterian Church; Phi Theta Kappa, Broward College; Sandy Slomin and friends; Sara Martinez and family; the Syracuse University Alumni Club of South Florida; United Healthcare; and UPS for decorating our homes and to all of our friends and neighbors who delivered holiday gifts and hosted special activities for our kids this holiday.

Pictured: (top) Sara Martinez & family pose in front of their newly decorating SOS home. (bottom) Volunteers working together to hang lights.