Random Acts of Zhu 2011

by Christina Rossen

Last year, the WellConnectedMom.com had the honor to be a part of the RAZ 2010 Random Acts of  Zhu giveaway.  The WellConnectedMom.com selected two local charities and played Santa by giving Zhu Zhu Pets to Alternate Avenues and Pacific Lifeline.

We were thrilled when Cepia, the makers of Zhu Zhu Pets approached us again to participate in the 2011 RAZ – Random Acts of Zhu program.  

This year we choose to donate these wonderful Zhu Zhu Pet gifts to Isaiah’s Rock.  Isaiah’s Rock is a community outreach

program that is dedicated to helping people strengthen their communities by promoting love, care and sharing among neighbors.

Isaiah’s Rock is a family run, non-profit organization that provides direct support to families in need in by providing food,love and spiritual guidance. Every week they provide food to those in need and warm meals to the homeless who visit their home. Every year they have an enormous toy drive that provides toys and food to over 1,600 families.

We decided to give the Zhu Zhu Pets and sets away when Isaiah’s Rock would be holding their sign-ups for the families who would be receiving support this year.

Thankfully, we had the support of Crosspoint MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) this year. MOPS is an international organization that provides support to Mothers of children aged newborn to 5 years old. When we asked them if they could help us hand these wonderful gifts out they jumped at the chance. This great group of moms went above and beyond! MOPS decided to provide meals to Isaiah’s Rock volunteers, the homeless who would drop in for a warm meal, and those families who would be receiving the gifts. Thank you to those wonderful ladies who took the time out during this busy holiday season to provide to those in need. Oh, and for roughing it in the cold since that is where their kitchen is!

We decided to give away the Zhu Zhu Pets on December 5^th in the evening.  The MOPS moms got there early with the presents and food to prepare for dinner. While the MOPS moms were busy preparing dinner a few of them went about setting up the gifts.  Last year only Zhu Pets were given away, but this year we were also able to give playsets out along with the Zhu Zhu Pets. We would pair up two sets with a Zhu Zhu pet and alternate the playsets so families could have a variety to play with. It was so much fun getting to play Santa Claus!

Charlene King, who is one of the main volunteers at Isaiah’s Rock, visited the families who were waiting to sign-up their children for the Isaiah’s Rock Christmas giveaway happening later in the month.  She picked out families in need out who had their children with them to be  a part of the night’s Random Acts of Zhu giveaway.  When all of the families were seated MOPS went about serving a warm dinner of Chicken Tortilla Soup, cornbread and brownies. Everything was delicious.

After the families had finished their meals, we had the children from the moms of MOPS hand out the presents to the children in need. What a wonderful opportunity for our children to get to help and see that there are people right here in our local community who need help.  As the presents were being distributed the children began ripping into the presents and were so excited to see Zhu Zhu Pets and playsets!  They were so appreciative of these unexpected presents and ran around comparing their sets with the other children.

Besides the children, I think that the parents were the most appreciative of the gifts. I can only imagine what it would be like to not be able to provide gifts at Christmastime for your children.   Thank you so much,  Cepia, for your Random Acts of Zhu program, and for providing us the opportunity to help so many families.  It was a wonderful reminder of what Christmas is all about.