Fort Dodge Santa’s Helpers

Fort Dodge Santa’s Helpers Fort Dodge community effort to help those needing a little extra support over the holiday season.

03/04/2025

Hi Fort Dodge friends,

After much thought and consideration, we have made the very hard decision to end our management of Santa’s Helpers. We have grown extensively over the years, which has resulted in us not having the time or space to continue. We have also had things in our own personal/family lives that has impacted us making this decision.

But, we are hopeful this is not the actual end of the program. We are looking to hand over to someone else (family or organization) that would like to keep this going. I am happy to help with the transfer, and even help during the holiday season.

We have a list of typical donors, a 501C3 partnership/management, and this page to help ensure the continued success of the program.

If you are interested, or know of someone/org that may be interested, please send me a private message.

Finally, I want to sincerely thank everyone for the continued support of our program. It was been very fulfilling and given us a sense of purpose in our community.

02/15/2025

Hey all, I know we are still waiting for the first family that lost everything to a fire to get into their new place for donations to be dropped off. But we unfortunately had another family who recently lost everything. They are only looking for clothes right now, so if you can spare the following, please text Nikki at 515-302-9766.

All male sizes, but message from Nikki:
My dad wears size 38/36 pants, L/XL shirt 12 shoe
my uncle is 32/30 pants L shirt 10 1/2 shoe
my cousin wears Pants 34 30 shirt 2x or 3x

01/23/2025

Update on the family that lost their home in the fire…

Jenny is looking for a rental home for her and her 4 kiddos. If you know of an affordable rental in Fort Dodge that may work, please post in the comments. We all know that the housing market is tight and pricey these days, and I cannot imagine how tough this is on them right now being displaced.

Also… Thank you so much for all the people who are patiently waiting for Jenny and her kids to get into a new home so we can get everything over to them and set things up. You all are amazing!!

If anyone would like to make a monetary donation to help get Jenny into a new home, or to help with groceries after they are settled, please message me and we can help make that happen.

As always, please share to get the word out.

01/19/2025

I will update this post as things are committed and delivered for this family. Thank you all already!!

As many of you probably already know, a member of our community lost everything this week in a house fire. They are in the process of getting a new home, but will be starting over on everything to fill it. If anyone can help with the following, please message me.

- living room furniture
* couch - committed
* end and coffee tables - committed
* chairs - need (but pending until we know how much space is available)
- dining set - committed
- TV - 2 have been committed, would be interested in more if available
- bedding (one queen size set, 4 twin sets)
* a couple twin size committed
- beds (same as above)
* queen size - committed
* twin size - I am working through the messages to see where we are with this
- dressers
* 2 committed so far
- towels (kitchen and bathroom)
* bathroom - being shipped to us
* kitchen - being shipped to us
- pots, pans, dishes, silverware, cooking and measuring utensils, potholders
* many comments/messages on donations, I will update the list once we start getting the items to see where we still are
- small kitchen appliances - need
- toiletries - need
- gift cards for groceries and other essentials - need 🩷💙

It does not need to be new, anything that is in decent shape and still has life left in it is appreciated.

As always, please share to get the word out. Now let’s fill their home!!!!

12/28/2024

Who wants to help us name our next program??

So far we have “Operation ‘Warm’ it Forward” for the coat program and “Fort Dodge Santa’s Helpers” for the Christmas program. Oh yeah, and don’t forget “Cones with Cops” for the summer ice cream social.

Now, we would like to expand to creating home essential kits for those that are getting their first new place after experiencing some rough times (those exiting the men’s or women’s shelters, aging out of foster care, leaving the halfway house, who have been hit with homelessness in any fashion, etc). We will be looking to put together basic essentials for their home - laundry basket/supplies, kitchen utensils/supplies, linens, towels, cleaning supplies….

BUT, we need a name for the program?! Comment below with your ideas!!

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!!
12/25/2024

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!!

2024 Santa’s Helpers recap and appreciation post. 26 families + youth shelter = approximately 82 kids getting a Christm...
12/22/2024

2024 Santa’s Helpers recap and appreciation post.

26 families + youth shelter = approximately 82 kids getting a Christmas because of our amazing community. We had one huge Christmas miracle, but that does not at all take away from the Christmas miracle created for all the families we have helped this year.

This program matters more to families than most could ever imagine, and I’m so honored we are trusted in our community to deliver on this for 6 years running.

Shoutouts:
St. Mark’s Church for the incredible space
Fort Dodge Community Foundation for setting up our 501c3
Farrell’s Automotive
Active Health
Bookworm
Dungeons and Dodgers
Fort Frenzy
Employees of Nestle Purina
Nestle Purina
Employees of Valero Energy
Employees of Murphy Tractor
Mid Iowa Towing
Bemrich Electric
Fort Dodge Pride Festival (including Kara and Tara for spending their day helping us wrap)
Cassidie Black Photography
And countless private families who are way too many to name (I would for sure miss one and feel horrible about it!!).

Big shout out to my husband who was willing to be Santa this year and run all the errands while I was sick. Then to my kids for sacrificing their time to help out - and their time with me while we worked so hard to make this happen.

12/21/2024

Both families covered, thank you!!

Hey everyone!! Need some help. We have 2 families that ended up not getting adopted and we need to get them covered. If anyone would like to adopt them fully, pick up a few items, or donate monetarily that would be very much appreciated.

12/18/2024

Hey guys, Mrs. Claus (aka me) has been pretty sick the last 3 days and therefore we are falling behind on wrapping and preparing presents.

Looking for 3ish volunteers for Friday night and Saturday early afternoon to help with wrapping and finalizing organization of gifts.

If you would like to help and have the availability to do so, please comment below when you would be free to help out. Please only comment if you are available and can make it.

Thank you so much!!

12/16/2024

Hey FD!! We are officially done for the season, as we have exceeded our capacity of our resources. BUT, the need is still there in our community. Lizard Creek Ranch has quite a few kiddos that are needing/asking for clothes for Christmas from their gift tree. Please consider helping them out, even if just an outfit for one child, everything helps so much.

Message them via Facebook or call/text at 515-890-0053. Again, everything helps!!

12/13/2024

Edit: I have convinced the husband - the rightful heir to the FDSH throne - aka Santa. 🎅

Hey Fort Dodge!!!!! I am looking for a Santa to help with gift delivery/pickup. Anyone know of someone with a suit that would be interested? Guarantee a fun time, lots of smiles, and maybe even some happy tears.

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