Celebrating the Holidays at Maryhurst

For too many kids and families around Kentucky, the holidays can be a reminder of past trauma and all ways they’ve been denied access to gifts, a loving home or even basic necessities. At Maryhurst, we do our best to make the holidays special for children, their families and our staff.

2017 Gift Drive

The reality is that this year may well have been the first time children living in our residential program have received any gifts for Christmas. Each year, the Maryhurst development team works hard to gather specific, personalized wish-lists from children and matches them with generous donors around our community.

Thanks to contributions from Churchill Downs, Genscape, and churches around the Louisville metro, each child in our care had multiple gifts—clothes, games, and books they personally requested—to open on Christmas morning.

All of the time spent coordinating, picking up gifts, and wrapping is worth it to see the faces of kids and hear words like those of Tonya, 17, a resident at Maryhurst, “Gifts like these make me feel like there’s someone out there that cares for me.” Altogether, each of the ~120 children currently in our programs received a complete wish-list comprised of several gifts.

If you’d like to donate gifts in the future, visit this page or contact Liz Nickley.

Celebrations

We were excited as always to welcome the treasury department from Texas Roadhouse at our Dorsey Lane Campus as they staff our employee holiday lunch. For nearly a decade, the team at TRH has donated gifts, time, and a delicious meal to ensure that our staff is appreciated during the holidays.

In addition, the Maryhurst Board of Directors hosted its annual holiday dinner, a decades-long tradition for our agency that pairs kids in our programs with the community leaders on our board as they meet and share a meal with one another. The children prepare themed creative presentations and perform them to much holiday cheer! If you’ve never been to a Maryhurst Holiday Dinner, we hope you’ll join us next year.