This holiday season, Operation Lotus wants to bring an entire foster home a magical Christmas.
Operation Lotus, which was founded nine years ago by Melanie Brockmeier-Jordy, is a nonprofit helping families overcoming tragedy.
She was introduced to the foster home Everyday Blessings by a friend, but she heard the kids wouldn’t be able to get many gifts this holiday season.
“I figured, instead of just trying to take care of one or two, let’s try to do this huge initiative and try to do the entire home,” she said.
Operation Lotus is collecting gifts and having volunteers wrap them before delivering them to the kids.
“It really just kind of depends on how much community support we get and the donations that come in, but we at least wanted to give each kid a couple of gifts and a stocking and throw them a pizza party,” Brockmeier-Jordy said.
She said her family usually adopts another family for Christmas, but she wanted to use her nonprofit to reach more people in need.
“I don’t know if people really think about the help that is truly needed in the Lithia community,” she said. “It was important to me to help these kids right here in our backyard.”
She said this project lines up with Operation Lotus’ goal to help people going through a traumatic experience, but it is also important to her personally.
Brockmeier-Jordy said that over the past four or five months, something has been pulling her to tell her story more often and in more detail. She said this experience has helped her process her own grief and helped others do the same.
“Something greater is just pulling me toward these kids,” she said. “To give hope to these kids during the season is truly everything.”
Brockmeier-Jordy said she wants to thank the community for paying attention to her story and Operation Lotus’ efforts. She said over the past nine years, support for her work has just grown and made the nonprofit possible.
To donate to Operation Lotus, people can Venmo Brockmeier-Jordy @JordyPartyof6 or mail a check to 15335 Fishhawk Heights Run in Lithia.
