Celebrate Christmas early in Lake Worth for a good cause
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow
Ok, so Christmas is still four months away, but that doesn’t mean it won’t look like the yuletide season in Lake Worth on Aug. 18 and 19.
That’s when the Boca Raton-based Listen Learn Care Foundation is holding its first annual “Summer Snowballs Holiday Bazaar” at the Academy for Positive Learning from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1200 N. Dixie Highway.
Admission is $5, and if you bring a new toy for a kid age 10 to 17, it will be given to the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office’s Toy Drive later this year.
Mary Wong, president of the nonprofit foundation whose mission is helping women entrepreneurs, said she wants the toys donated to kids who are nearly teenagers because they often get left out for the holidays.
“Kids who are 10 through the teenage years really don’t get toys,” she said. “They’re not even really on the radar. A lot of the little kids get what they need, but that age range doesn’t get much of anything so we’re really collecting for that age so we can help them.”
Teri Barbera, a PBSO spokeswoman, said it appreciates Wong choosing PBSO. “We will definitely put the toys to good use,” she said. “Our community’s deputies are always looking for those children who don’t have a Christmas or holiday like others do.”
Wong said the event will feature a little bit of everything, including speakers on topics such as holiday finances.
“We want to focus on artisans who get kind of lost in the middle of big business during Christmas,” she said. “A lot the vendors coming are sole entrepreneurs who developed their business strategies, and they will be featured.”
Eighty-five percent of the vendors at the event, which includes Macaroni Kids, Hoffman’s Chocolates and Rodan & Fields, are female. Some of the items for sale will include homemade crafts, clothing, jewelry, candles and soaps.
“It’s great for the holidays, but it’s really for all year long,” said Wong, who lives in Lake Worth.
Wong started thinking about the event last year.
“We had a lot of product we wanted to really put together and do a pop-up shop and I said we can include our other friends out there so we could create more of an idea there’s a better way to do it,” she said. “It’s not just about shopping, it’s an experience.”
Wong called a PBSO deputy she knows who helped her find the Lake Worth location.
“He talked about the toy drive, and we said we’d love to help,” Wong said.
The Listen Learn Care Foundation, formerly known as the Office Depot Foundation, had to rename itself last year after the company decided to no longer fund it.
“So we just branched off and changed our name,” Wong said. “We are on a mission to help women in business ... get further ahead.
I’m thrilled about the direction we’re taking and the moves we’re making. When a company decides what it’s going to do, you have to decide what you’re going to do.”
At the moment, Wong is focused on her upcoming holiday event.
“I hope everyone will come out and have a great time,” she said.