The Giving Grinch Has a Heart of Gold

By Rachel Hall | [email protected]

South Jordan - The gift of giving brings joy to the holiday season. That is why The Giving Grinch, a local foundation, raises money all year long to have the opportunity to spread a little cheer during Christmas to those who may not otherwise have received a gift. 

“I truly believe every child deserves a Christmas,” Sheena Rose, the founder of The Giving Grinch, said. “People were crying at the support. It was very rewarding, because [we] knew that these families needed help.”

Vendors and shoppers convened on the South Jordan Community Center for The Giving Grinch’s annual holiday boutique on Nov. 14, 2015 as a final fundraising effort to help as many families as possible.

“Everybody [was] really excited to be here,” Jamie Alvarado, a vendor, said. “We’ve had some good sales, but the priority was to donate for the kids for The Giving Grinch foundation.”

A variety of booths with items such as baked goods, clothes, jewelry, woodwork and knitted goods filled the community center as shoppers browsed, chatted and were visited by Santa and The Giving Grinch.

Thanks to generous customers and sponsors, 28 families received assistance in 2015. Smith’s in South Jordan donated Christmas dinner to each family, which included turkey and all of the fixings. Residents donated through the foundation’s website and bought toys. Lotsa Tots has sponsored The Giving Grinch every year since it began in 1996.

“I work in South Jordan at a daycare. One of my boys in ’96, when I was putting up a tree, told me that he didn’t have a Christmas tree. I was like, ‘Oh. That’s weird,’” Rose said. “I went to his house, and came to find out that they weren’t having Christmas. That’s when I founded it. We went out and bought them all Christmas.”

The board of directors plans for the annual holiday boutique every year, and goes through a process of selecting families in need of assistance. Those families can go online to The Giving Grinch website or another individual can nominate a family in need.

“The families are all over the state. [In 2014], we helped a family in Richfield that suffered from a house fire,” Jessica Wright, a member of the board of directors, said. “We keep trying to get bigger and bigger each year, so that we can help more people.”

In 2014, a total of 62 families received gifts, including a mom who had been diagnosed with cancer in South Jordan. The foundation was able to provide a vacation to Disneyland for the mom and her family for a week.

“It just depends every year. How much money we make is how many families we can help,” Rose said.  

For more information about the foundation, for how to help or how to nominate a family in need, visit www.thegivinggrinch.org