Help Immokalee Parents Make Holiday Wishes Come True

Guadalupe Center is calling on Southwest Florida to help stock its annual Holiday Gift Shop, where Immokalee parents choose holiday gifts for their own children. The toy drive runs November 2 through December 10, and the community can help by donating new, unwrapped toys and gift cards, shopping the Center’s Amazon wish list, hosting a gift drive, or volunteering. 

For more than 30 years, the Holiday Gift Shop has been a beloved tradition in Immokalee. This year, the shop will offer more than 5,000 donated gifts for children from infants to high schoolers. Set up like a store, it gives parents the opportunity to select gifts that reflect their children’s interests and holiday wishes, ensuring the gifts come directly from the parents. 

Many of the families served by Guadalupe Center are hardworking parents who are doing everything they can to provide for their children while balancing the rising costs of housing, food, transportation, and other essentials. During the holiday season, they often face difficult financial choices between purchasing gifts and meeting their family’s basic needs. The Holiday Gift Shop helps ease that burden while preserving the dignity and joy of parents selecting special presents for their own children. 

“Every parent wants to make their child’s holiday wishes come true,” said Dawn Montecalvo, President and CEO of Guadalupe Center. “The Holiday Gift Shop gives parents the opportunity to personally choose gifts they know their children will love and then place those gifts in their children’s hands. For many hardworking families, this program helps relieve financial pressure during the holidays while ensuring parents remain the ones creating those special memories.” 

This year, gifts for children ages six-eight are the greatest need. Popular items for this age group include arts and crafts and bracelet-making kits, LEGO and building sets, science kits, sports balls, scooters, remote-control toys, and favorite characters such as Pokémon, Disney, Marvel, and Minecraft. For teens, gift cards in $25 increments to stores and restaurants such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, Ulta, GameStop, and McDonald’s are especially welcome.  

Drop-off Locations 

Naples: Guadalupe Center Philanthropy Office, 6216 Trail Blvd., Naples, FL 34108 

Immokalee: Guadalupe Center van Otterloo Family Campus for Learning, 3655 Westclox St., Immokalee, FL 34142 

To host a collection site, volunteer or ask a question, contact Wendy Wagner at WWagner@GuadalupeCenter.org or 239-944-9988.