Hardship Heroes

10/11/2026

🙈🍴 HELP US MAKE SOME VERY BAD DECISIONS!

For our Giving Tuesday Blindfold Taste Test, Ashley and Emily are putting their trust in YOU.

And we're already regretting it. 😂

We're collecting food suggestions for each other's mystery taste testing lists! Please be nice! Think yummy but strange textures if you have to!

Want to make Ashley squirm? Add it to the list!

Want to see Emily question her life choices? Add it to the list!

👇 SUBMIT YOUR FOOD SUGGESTIONS BELOW!
🍴 SUGGESTIONS FOR ASHLEY'S FOOD LIST:
https://s.surveyplanet.com/d3ujy8qa

🍴 SUGGESTIONS FOR EMILY'S FOOD LIST:
https://s.surveyplanet.com/hgp7ri1f

Sweet, sour, salty, strange... get creative!

We'll be blindfolded, and we won't know what's coming until it's already in our mouths.

TEAM ASHLEY vs. TEAM EMILY

Who are you rooting for? And more importantly... what are you feeding us?! 😂

All for a great cause and a whole lot of laughs in support of Hardship Heroes! 🖤

10/10/2026

10 BUSINESSES. ONE COMMUNITY. A WHOLE LOT OF HOLIDAY MAGIC. ❤️

We're recruiting 10 local businesses to participate in our Giving Tuesday Community Coloring Campaign!

🎄 We provide the coloring poster.

🖍️ Your customers donate to color it.

❤️ Together, we help create unforgettable holiday experiences for families facing hardship.

Our community goal: $4,000!
That's $400 raised at each of 10 participating businesses.

No event planning. No complicated fundraiser. Just a little space in your business and a willingness to help spread some joy.

Salons, barbershops, chiropractors, boutiques, real estate offices, local shops — we'd love to hear from you!

📩 REACH OUT to become a participating business.

And tag your favorite local businesses below!

10/06/2026

🎄✨ OUR HOLIDAY HEROES EMAILS HAVE OFFICIALLY GONE OUT!!! ✨🎄

And nowwww the fun begins. 👀🎅🏻

8 incredible families are about to become a BIG part of Hardship Heroes this holiday season! And soon you'll get to meet every single one of them. ❤️

Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing their stories, introducing you to the families behind Holiday Heroes, and showing you exactly how YOU can help us make this Holiday Season unforgettable for them. 🎁

There will be lots of ways to get involved. Whether that's helping fulfill wish lists, supporting the experience, donating, sharing their stories or simply helping us spread a little extra Holiday magic. ✨

🎄 8 families. One really special night. A WHOLE lot of magic to make.

Family reveals are COMING SOON. 👀❤️

Stay tuned... Holiday Heroes 2026 is officially underway! 🎅🏻🎁✨

10/05/2026

🍎 Happy World Teachers’ Day!

Today we have to shout out one of our own, Secretary Board Member - Kelly Gillow! 💜

Teacher. Board member. Volunteer. Just an all around good human!

We’re pretty lucky to have you. 🫶

10/05/2026

There are real people behind every application we receive.

Real families. Real kids. Real hardships. Real stories that stay with us long after we finish reading them.

And there are real people behind Hardship Heroes, too.

This is our board sitting together, reading through this year’s Holiday Heroes applications. Reading every story. Talking about every family. Trying to make decisions that, quite frankly, are heartbreaking to make.

Because choosing our Holiday Heroes isn’t about deciding who deserves help.

They all do.

It’s about looking at the funding we have, the experience we can provide, and figuring out how to make the biggest impact we possibly can with what our community has given us.

There are applications we read that make us cry. Some make us reach for the tissues. Some make the room go completely quiet.

And then somehow, we have to choose.
This is the part of Hardship Heroes you don’t always see.

No algorithms. No automated selection process. No names pulled from a hat.

Just real people sitting around a table, reading the stories of real people in our community and wishing more than anything that we could say YES to every single one. 🎄

10/01/2026

🎀 Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Two women. Two stories. Two very different journeys with breast cancer.
Our Hero Kiki was active and enjoying retirement when an unexpected trip to the ER changed everything. What she thought might be a heart attack turned out to be breast cancer.

She fought. She advocated. She shared her story. She left behind quite a legacy. Kiki will be missed terribly by all who encountered her spirit!

Our Hero Tiffany is a single mom and small business owner when she was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of breast cancer. Treatment brought setbacks, complications and some incredibly challenging days.

Today, Tiffany has finished treatment, returned to work, and is building a new chapter of her life as a Non Profit Founder! 🎀

Breast cancer doesn't have one story.
Sometimes we celebrate survivorship.
Sometimes we grieve someone deeply missed.
Sometimes we do both at the same time.

Today we remember Kiki.
We celebrate Tiffany.

And we honor every person whose life has been changed by breast cancer.
Who will you honor this National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? 🎀

09/30/2026

🚨 24 HOURS LEFT!

Holiday Heroes applications close TOMORROW. 🎄🎁

Know a local family with young children facing a hardship?
This is your last chance to send them our way. ❤️

✨ Applications close TOMORROW October 1st!

https://www.hardshipheroes.org/holidayheroesapplication

09/30/2026

Things are about to get a little… unhinged. 😂

🥚 Egg Roulette
🙈 Blindfold Taste Testing
🌶️ Hot Sauce Challenge
🛍️ Goodwill Challenge & 🧠 Trivia Night

All to raise money for Hardship Heroes this Giving Tuesday season.

November is going to be FUN.

09/27/2026