By Sherry Tucker

Christmas is filled with many memories for the Tucker Family with one being the birth of the Giving Hope through Faith Foundation and the kick off of the Foundation’s annual “Stockings of Hope” gift card drive.

This project was started in memory of Zachary Tucker, who courageously battled brain cancer in 2006 at the age of eight.

“It is hard to believe this will be our seventh Christmas without Zach, but in those seven years, his story has entered many hearts and continues to change lives. We do this drive every year as we pull out Zach’s Christmas Stocking. To know his short life continues to help others that are facing cancer has been a great comfort to us,”  said Sherry Tucker, Zach’s mother.

There are many ways to can participate in this project  – from making a tax deductible donation at www.givinghopethroughfaith.org to hosting a holiday party at your office or home and encouraging friends to bring a gift card or donation to fill a stocking.

The Brandon Ballet has also generously partnered with the foundation through their ballets at Christmas and in the Spring.

“It is very encouraging to have this community-wide support and our foundation families are so thankful to have the packages coming to them, especially at this time of the year,” said Tucker.

Over 300 families have been enrolled in the program since inception. The families receive monthly care packages containing gift cards and messages of hope, once a month for a year.

The foundation is operating on a volunteer basis only with ninety two cents of every dollar received going out to the families that are assisted.

To learn more about the foundation or the Stockings of Hope project go to www.givinghopethroughfaith.org or contact Tucker at 685-6773.

 

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Kelly Wise Valdes
Kelly Wise Valdes has been writing for the Osprey Observer since 2008. She graduated in 1989 from Florida Southern College with a B.S. in Communications and enjoys writing and traveling. She currently resides in northern Hillsborough County with her husband, David. When not traveling and writing, Kelly and her husband enjoy spending time with their five grown children (as well as their grandchildren) that still keep them very busy.