By Kharisma McIlwaine
Tis’ the season to give back!
The holidays are the time we devote to family, friends, fellowship and giving back to those in need. Rodney and Erika McLeod are doing just that with Change Our Future’s 4th Annual 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, spreading joy once again this holiday season with their Fill-a-Cart initiative which gifts 20 Philadelphia families a $500 Target shopping spree. The McLeods spoke to The SUN about the importance of giving back to families in need during the holiday season.
Rodney and Erika McLeod at Target during their 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. Photo Facebook: Change Our Future.org
The McLeods created 12 Days of Christmas during the pandemic, during a time when the world experienced health and economic crises simultaneously. 12 Days of Christmas helped them provide financial ease to families throughout the Philadelphia area.
“This will be our 4th year of 12 Days of Christmas, which doesn’t even feel real — the time has just flown by.” Erika said. “We really wanted to figure out a way to fill the void and bring joy and happiness to families during the holiday season. Christmas being one of our favorite holidays, it made complete sense that we pour into others that are lacking certain items during the holiday season. When we thought about Fill-a-Cart, we found families within the local Philadelphia community that were in need — families that were experiencing hardships and didn’t have some of their basic necessities like clothes, food or even simply just toys. It’s such a financial burden that a lot of families feel during the holidays to hold themselves to a standard of what society has made the holidays out to be.”
Erika went on to add, “We really wanted to take the opportunity to meet some of these people that live in Philadelphia, that supported Rodney on the field when he played for the Eagles. It’s like how do you pour back and give them something that would change their life or change their year and make their kids smile? We took Fill-a-Cart and ran with it and it’s an experience we get to bring volunteers out for, and it’s one of their favorite events as well during our 12 Days.”
This year, Change Our Future partnered with Turning Points For Children Foundation and Focused Athletics Philly to help them identify Philadelphia families in need. With the support of such partnerships, Change Our Future has helped over 3,000 families and counting during the holiday seasons.
“The partnerships between those organizations really blossomed over the years. I think the reason we connected with Turning Point is because my youngest sister is adopted.” Rodney said, “We wanted to find a way to support fellow foster care children, knowing some of the adverse situations they’ve been placed in. We wanted to be able to support them during the holidays and now they’ve become a staple within the foundation and even more so for 12 Days of Christmas.”
Rodney added, “We’re also looking to build new partnerships and relationships with other youth organizations within Philly and touching different neighborhoods. That’s one thing we try to pride ourselves on at Change Our Future — being able to touch multiple neighborhoods throughout the Philadelphia community and leaving our flagship there. Whether it’s 12 Days of Christmas, our Youth Leadership Summit, or mentorship… all of it matters, has value and is very effective. We’re just thankful for our partners, their support, and for them being able to help us identify some families in need and help us provide some cheer during the holiday season.”
Change Our Future will return to the same Target they’ve worked with for the last three years for their annual Fill-a-Cart giveaway.
“I think what’s really special, especially with the Target we’ve worked with in the past, is it feels small enough where you can get bedding, groceries, lotion, clothes; you can buy toys for your kids and everything is right there. We’re not limiting you to just shopping for clothes or shoes. There are families that have experienced house fires and they need those basic necessities to keep their households running.” Erika said. “They (Target) just believe in our mission. They’re always welcoming us when we offer to have Fill-a-Cart and we’ve built a relationship with some of the workers there. A lot of them try to work when they know we’re having Fill-a-Cart because they love what we’re doing. When you start to give back to the community, and other community members see what you’re doing, you band together and it encourages the next person to want to give back or make a difference in their area as well. Target has been an incredible partner for us for these past three years and we’re really looking forward to it this year as well.”
Change Our Future offers several ways for community members to donate to families in need including offering the option for people to sponsor Fill-a-Cart giveaways.
“There’s a donation link on our website that will explain everything that Fill-a-Cart entails — the purpose, the why and the goal both from a family aspect and financial goal. The way you can support onsite is simply by volunteering” Rodney said. “We encourage everybody to get involved and to support. Take some time to shop with a family. Even if you can’t give this year, your time is so valuable. The time spent learning about a family, talking through whatever they might be dealing with and gaining an additional supporter or friend is so important. I think this initiative has really focused on hope. It lets families know that people do care, that there are still good people in the world that are willing to help.”
Change Our Future’s 12 Days of Christmas Fill-a-Cart giveaway will take place on Tuesday, December 12th at the Target located at 2001 Pennsylvania Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19130 at 5:30 p.m. For more information on how to donate or volunteer visit www.changeourfuture.org.
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