Holden Strong Foundation

12/24/2025

This past week/weekend and this week we collected the remaining totes and met a few people for pickups. We also did a lot of toy drop offs, the hospital drop off, and will be doing another drop off after Christmas due to more toys flowing in. I can’t express how excited and blown away we are. I’m just simply thankful for everyone and their donations (monetary and toys), shares, likes- all of it. Thank you so so much for making this happen year after year.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of pickups with the small businesses (Top Knot Salon, Comcare, Frost Chiropractor, Depot Nutrition) and the totes. But I want to send a HUGE thank you to all of our drop off locations. It’s such a huge help (and convenience) to have places to drop toys off at. Thank you again!! So very much.

Thank you again to everyone for everything!! None of this would be possible without everyone’s help every single year. 🧡

Merry Christmas from Holden’s family 🧡🧡

**We will do our drawings once Christmas is over.**

12/11/2025

A couple drop offs and pickups have been happening this week!!! 🧡🧡 So exciting!!!! 🪀🧸🪁

11/25/2025

How is it almost the end of November already??? But you know what that means? Time for Holden’s Toy Drive!
Eight years ago when our family started this toy drive, we honestly did it for us- to help while grieving. To help Savannah and show appreciation for everything the hospital did for her/us while we were there with Holden. Now eight years later, we still do it for Savannah/us and to show appreciation, but it’s turned into so much more than we could have imagined.
Every year we are able to do a little more than we did the previous year thanks to our COMMUNITY, surrounding communities, and friends and family (near and far). What started out as a toy donation to Niswonger Children’s Hospital has turned into also donating to the Greeneville Isaiah House, helping local families, and last year helped provide Christmas for students/families who lost everything in the flood. This year will be no different. 🧡

As usual, ages for toys are infant to 18 years old.
Toys have to be unwrapped.

If you donate a toy, please be sure to put your name and phone number in the jar in the tote- or I will enter your name if a toy is given to me or if given money/venmo/paypal. We will do a drawing after the toy drive for a couple little things from our family as a thank you.

We have four drop off locations this year:
•Top Knot Salon (205 Lonesome Pine Trail)
•Depot Nutrition (1045 W Summer Street)
•Frost Chiropractor (1007 TuscuLum Blvd)
•Thomas House (off the Newport Hwy)

OR give me a call and I can meet anywhere.

Thank you all so so much for us keep this tradition going every year. I can’t even begin to express just how much it means to our family. 🧡

**Just a little information about the toys that go to the hospital. Toys donated go to children who are in the hospital during holidays and birthdays. They also go to children who complete milestones while in or finishing their stay at the hospital. Example being a child who finished chemo and gets to have a party. And then of course the one that hits closest to home, they do activities and give toys to siblings of children/families who are in the hospital. Every day that we were there with Holden, a sweet lady came around to take Savannah to do all sorts of activities. She got to meet all kinds of people, do all kinds of crafts, and every day was given some sort of gift for her and one for her to give Holden. Later (due to Savannah’s surgery and from others), we found out that toys are also given to children if they have to make a trip to the ER and/or have a same day procedure.
Earlier this month we were told about a sweet child’s stay and how receiving a toy(s) helped their nerves/take their mind off things while there for a short stay. 🧡**

10/15/2025

3 DAYS!!! I’M SO EXCITED!!

Be sure to not only check out the vendors, food trucks, and ALL the touch-a-trucks (trust me, your little equipment operators, fire fighters, and truckers in the making won’t want to miss this), but also the hay ride, face painting, inflatables, and all the cool games and crafts for the kiddos!! We can’t wait to see everyone Saturday! 🧡🧡

10/12/2025

6 MORE DAYS!! I am absolutely pumped! The vendors, the food, the entertainment! It's going to be awesome. Be sure to stop and get some great food, check out all the vendors and touch-a-trucks, get your face painted and bounce on the bouncy houses.

As always, we will have our angel tent set up. I still have some pictures from the year before last that I plan on using for the Angel tent. If anyone would like to have their angel's picture on the table this year, please reach out. I would love to honor them.

(**picture from the first fundraiser**)

10/06/2025

12 DAYS!!!! I hope to see everyone on the18th!!! So very excited!!!

Touch-a-truck will include antique tractors, fire trucks, CAT equipment (construction and farm), CASE equipment, dump trucks, and big trucks!

We will also have an awesome hay ride and some inflatables for the kids!

09/29/2025

Count down is on!! 20 days until the big event! We still have a couple vendor and food truck spots open! If you or soemone you know is interested, please reach out!!

We are BEYOND excited! Be on the lookout for signs throughout town! See ya all soon!

Food Trucks:
Snow Biz (Janet Cox/ Bridget Bailey): sno cones, fresh squeezed lemonade, nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers, and so much more.
Belton Brew (Jessica Lutz): ALL things coffee!

Vendors:
Arctic Bites (Kellie Wheeler): freeze dried candies
Painted Turtle Craft Co (Kris Britt): all the fun stuff
Lace Magnolias (Crystal Marshall): stationary (notepads, bookmarks), stickers, custom made items
DragonFly Toes: customized clothing, etc
Southern44: boutique EVERYTHING
McCrayzy Fizz (Chistina McCray): earrings and other jewelry
Southern Sips: dirty sodas
kaylees.essentials: car air fresheners, body butters, cleaning products, etc.
Brooklynn Nance: Date with a book 📕
Holy Crust Bakery: all the sourdough goodies.
Depot Nutrition: Loaded tea GALORE!!!
Paula Campbell: Norwex
Paisley Peach Trading Co (Renee Hipps Britton): clothing, and so much more!!
Designs By Calleigh: crochet accessories/plush, unique jewelry, etc.
Regina Lawson-Collins: farm eggs, canned goods, fresh flowers, beef tallow products, etc
Joyful Stitches: ALL things embroidery
Honeybee Creations (Rebecca Johnson): 3D printed toys, etc.
Natasha Keasling: Scentsy
Megan Wesley: Mary Kay
Leann Barnes Renner: RADA cutlery
Dawn: shirts, etc
BNP Creations (Brandy Price): cups, etc
The Printed Panda: 3D printed items
Sparkle Spider Studio by Harlow (Jennifer Renee Hagan): hair glitter, pens, bookmarks, and cup charms
Etched in Stone: permanent jewelry
Maggie’s Design (Ashley Bishop): the best face painting
Polished, Twisted, and Grown: seedlings, handmade items, bouquets, shadow boxes, etc
Leola’s Porch Sweets and Treats (Casey Tarlton): Fudge and Cheese balls
Golden Sips (LeeAnn Mullett): Smashed Lemonade
Randolph's Creations (Cindy Arrington): beaded keychains and other custom items.
Crafts by Grace (Teresa Cathcart): Christmas ornaments, Hill Billy back scratch, bird baths
PJ’s Market: fresh sausage and other meats.

09/23/2025

VERY excited to announce our third Holden Strong Foundation Fundraiser! After the tragic events of last year, we are beyond ecstatic to not only be able to hold the fundraiser, but have it at Kinser Park again!
So mark your calendars and tell your friends to come join us at Kinser Park on Saturday, October 18th from 9am-6pm.

Come check out all the local vendors, eat at the food trucks, play on the inflatables, and check out the touch-a-truck. A memorial gathering will start at 6pm!! Can’t wait to see you there!!!

***We are still looking for a couple vendors and food trucks to join us! If you are interested, please shoot me a message or text!***

01/13/2025

🧡

This season, we were deeply touched by yet another generous donation from the Holden Strong Foundation. 🧸 This is the seventh year the Thomas family has supported us in memory of their son, Holden, who was once a patient here at Niswonger Children's Hospital.

Since 2018, the Thomas family has graciously worked alongside their community to raise funds and collect toys for children and their families in our care. Holden's legacy lives on through his family and community's incredible acts of kindness.

DM us for details on how you can donate to Niswonger Children's Hospital. Your generosity, just like the Holden Strong Foundation, helps create lasting memories for our kids.

01/04/2025

Edited to add a few important things I forgot::

Today we were finally able to get the toys delivered to Niswonger Children’s Hospital! After we got back home after the holidays, we came home to toys on the front porch, and also met up with a few others that had toys to give.

When I say this year may have been the biggest year yet, I truly mean that. The pictures just truly don’t do justice.

This year was a little different in many ways. Like previous years, we had designated drop off locations, but this year we set a tote out at the places and the amount of times we had to empty the totes was amazing!! I can’t thank Brumleys and Top Knot Salon for allowing us to use their store/shop. I also had a couple places ask to help next year, which I am beyond thankful for. 🧡

We were also asked by Christy and Anthony if Burger Shack could put a jar out to help this year with donations. That was a HUGE blessing in itself! I literally cried when I when picked the jar up! The change jar ended up bringing in over $500!!! 😭🧡 I can’t thank Christy and Anthony enough for helping in such a big way!!! Not just with this, but everything they do! 🧡

Thanks to everyone who donated (toys and money) and shared via facebook and word of mouth, we were able to do so much. One of the things we were able to help with meant we had to wrap a lot of toys. I don’t think I would have been able to do it without the help of some great people (Chasity, Angel, and Peyton). Also had great help delivering toys (Angel, Peyton, and of course Savannah and Zayden).

I can’t begin to express how much this toy drive means to my little family. When we started in 2018, I never dreamed it would be as big as it is now. Every year I KNOW I say I just don’t see how we can top this year, which I mean with everything in me. Yet every year it seems to get a little bigger, and we are able to do a little more. So thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you for keeping my boys name alive. Every single one of you make the holidays a little easier to get through. Our family truly looks forward to the toy drive every year.

Savannah will be drawing names tomorrow for the gift certificates as a little thank you to everyone who donated. 🧡

Enjoy some pictures of our last pick up’s and then the drop off at the hospital. I thought we may have lost Zayden in the sea of toys 😂

12/22/2024

We’ve been busy! Thanks to everyone, we were able to help out with an angel tree in town, and last Monday dropped off toys for 20 families at a local elementary/middle school.
I’ve had some reach out and ask if it’s too late to donate toys and/or money. Absolutely not. Saturday 12/28 we will be taking the rest of the toys donated to Niswonger Children’s Hospital. We still have some money that was donated to use, so we will be doing one more trip to the store also.
Saturday night we will draw names for the prizes! 🧡
I can’t thank everyone enough for always making these toys drive amazing!

12/15/2024

We’ve been super busy this week between the drops offs, pick ups, and shopping. I can’t thank everyone enough for all of their help every year with the toys/donations. The amount of toys donated/bought has been mind blowing- and they are still rolling in!!
Huge thanks to Christy and Anthony Carter! They put a donation jar at The Burger Shack and the turn out was amazing! I can’t thank them enough for all their help, not only with the toy drive, but with all their help with the fundraisers also.