- December 19, 2024
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If you think your Christmas shopping list is overwhelming, it likely doesn't compare with Jenny Infanti and Sepi Ackerman's.
This year, the pair bought about 20,000 gifts to distribute across four Sarasota schools.
They are the founders of the nonprofit Holiday House SRQ, an organization rising in prominence in Sarasota and dedicated to providing a holiday-themed shopping experience for kids at underserved schools.
"Our goal is to eventually be in every single Title I elementary school," said Ackerman.
The idea was born when the two chaired a long-running event known as Holiday House, held by Southside Elementary School's parent-teacher organization.
After the event was over in 2021, their thoughts turned to other schools that might not have the same resources.
Thirteen out of Sarasota's 24 elementary schools are Title I schools, so 40% of families or more are below the poverty line.
"The teachers at these schools have the most incredible hearts you can imagine," Infanti said. "Most of them are just constantly spending money out of their pockets for things for their students."
The first school they approached was Emma E. Booker Elementary, who asked whether they could offer the experience that year, although Infanti and Ackerman were skeptical there was enough time to acquire the gifts.
Nonetheless, within 24 hours, they had raised the needed funds, and describe the response to the experience as "overwhelming."
They say the joy it brings is about more than the gifts themselves.
"It's all about the experience, to the point where you have to have the music playing, you have to have the white bag that they can color," Ackerman said.
Yet it also allows kids from under-resourced schools to do something they may rarely have the chance to do: to give, rather than receive.
Kids are allowed to take five gifts for other people they choose, in addition to one for themselves, before the gifts are wrapped by teachers.
"I think another part of our mission we really feel that strongly about is that there's a real joy in the gift of giving, and there's not always a lot of opportunities for kids to experience being the gift giver as opposed to the gift recipient," Ackerman said.
The experience also offers lunch to teachers at the schools.
Having added one school per year, the organization now serves Alta Vista, Emma E. Booker, Wilkinson and Brentwood elementary schools. In January 2024, it attained a nonprofit status, which allows grant funding for the gift purchases.
This year, they were able to raise about $50,000 between private family foundations, including contributions from Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and the Junior League of Sarasota, which paid for the cost of adding Brentwood Elementary.
A holiday house at one school costs approximately $10,000.
There's also a lot of work involved in the effort to bring the experience to life, including the efforts of what the pair describe as "well over 200 volunteers."
"It is a true gift shop where you can find something for everyone," Ackerman said.
They say nearly all volunteers have enthusiastically returned each year, but one role the volunteers can't fulfill is the gift shopping itself; it requires close coordination to make sure that the right balance of items is achieved.
Items occupy every category, including items for parents, toys for siblings, toys for pets and more. Infanti and Ackerman will be present at sales throughout the year, as well as shopping sporadically.
They ask others to donate monetarily, rather than to donate the toys themselves.
When the first holiday house was held at Booker Elementary in 2021, Infanti and Ackerman could see the impact on the students firsthand.
"Their faces just lit up," Infanti said. "I mean, they were so excited."
They also realized its ability to reach children in difficult circumstances.
One boy asked for one of the tinsel trees that was decorating the house, saying he wanted to place it on his mother's grave. A kindergartener's older sister came through and asked if she could bring gifts for her, as she was being treated for leukemia.
Meanwhile, they say they saw people being inspired, such as an individual would make 32 large bags of food to send home with families for the holidays.
Yet the extra funds they've been able to raise also do more than just support the Holiday House experience.
Over the years, they have established a uniform closet at two of the schools, as kids may be sent home if they do not have the correct uniform. They've been able to wipe out large library fines and lunch fines at schools, which many families cannot afford to pay.
At Alta Vista Elementary last year, they helped restart the annual shoe drive, which had been discontinued, and are now pursuing a goal to provide 2,000 shoes to all four of the schools that they serve, with 1,300 acquired so far.
However, they say that what Holiday House offers in itself, is touching many people.
"When people think of Holiday House, we want them to think of exceptional," Ackerman said. "We are not only providing an experience for the children, but we are providing an experience for the teachers, for the administration, the volunteers. It is really a 360-degree experience for everyone that puts their hands in it."
