Lantana resident Kathryn Flores started Mission Moms after seeing her children’s excitement about toys that would be available this Christmas.
“Commercials and magazines flooded their innocent souls and, as children do, they want everything they see,” Flores said of her 6 and 4 year-old boys, Evan and Lincoln.
“We have always tried to lead them along the path of helping others, but we believe it takes action to make a lifelong impact. My husband Joe and I believe it is our obligation to groom two boys into men that will lead great families and make a difference in the lives of others.”
With the help of their school counselor, Melanie Stolfus at E.P. Rayzor Elementary School in Lantana, the brainstorming began and they began orchestrating ways to teach children about serving with kindness and appreciation for their blessings.
Within 30 days they created a Mission Moms page on Facebook with over 80 members and many more followers.
“I believe our area was hungry to help. There are so many fabulous causes and ways to give back, but seeing the needs here, in our backyard, was simply shocking,” said Flores.
Their first mission was to provide a Thanksgiving meal to over 50 families in need within their local elementary schools.
“We exceeded our goal and fed over 60 families a meal they would otherwise not have.”
Flores said one of the touching stories came from a family eager to use the school’s computer to search for instructions on how to cook a turkey.
“This was the first turkey this family had together and wanted everything to be just right.”
With Christmas only weeks away, Mission Moms hasn’t rested in their efforts to reach the families that will struggle to buy gifts for their children.
Their next mission, Christmas Kindness, involves collecting toys for underprivileged children at E.P. Rayzor, Blanton and Borman elementary schools in the Denton ISD.
“To make this happen, we need hundreds of unwrapped, elementary-aged (5 to 11 years) toys to achieve our goals,” said Flores.
Toy donation boxes are located at Lash Lounge in The Shops at Highland Village, Ogletree Eyecare at the northwest corner of FM 407 & FM 2499, Lantana Golf Club, Kwik Kar of Lantana on FM 407, Ramon’s Hair Design in Bartonville Town Center and E.P. Rayzor and Blanton elementary schools in Lantana.
Mission Moms, their children and other volunteers will meet at the Lantana Golf Club in the Pavilion Room on Tuesday, Dec. 18, from 3-6 p.m. to wrap the gifts, sort and tag them.
They will deliver the toys in large bags- to symbolize Santa’s gift sack- to schools on Thursday, Dec. 20.
“We hope our missions will energize Lantana area residents, businesses and organizations to begin reaching out to those that have met challenging circumstances and give them the kindness that we have been fortunate and blessed enough to experience,” said Flores.
Follow Mission Moms on Facebook for more information and watch for their new website, www.missionmoms.org, coming soon.
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