Manatee Clerk’s Office donates nearly 400 gifts to children in foster care
The Manatee County Clerk's Office donated nearly 400 toys and gifts during the month-long drive to benefit the Manatee County Foster and Adoptive Parents Association. “These kids deserve a holiday focused on just being kids," Manatee Clerk Angel Colonneso said. "They deserve the same wide-eyed wonder and breathless anticipation every child feels waking up on Christmas morning.”
This December, the Manatee Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller is filling living rooms with holiday gifts for kids in foster care — "because every child deserves to wake up to something with their name on it."
The the clerk's office partnered with the Manatee County Foster and Adoptive Parents Association (FAPA), an organization dedicated to strengthening bonds between foster children and the families caring for them, to provide new, unwrapped toys and gifts for children ages 0-18.
Clerk & comptroller employees donated nearly 400 toys and gifts during the month-long drive. The clerk & comptroller’s four historical museums also collected donations from community members, who stopped by to drop off toys and gifts.
"On behalf of all of the foster and adoptive families that we serve, we want to thank the clerk & comptroller for their outpouring of support and generosity through their holiday toy and gift drive," said Michele Conn Izzo, president of Manatee County Foster & Adoptive Parents Association. "Holidays can oftentimes be hard for the children of the families we serve, but the toys and gifts donated will bring such joy to them."
Manatee County FAPA will distribute the gifts to families throughout the holiday season and into the new year.
“These kids deserve a holiday focused on just being kids," Manatee Clerk Angel Colonneso said. "They deserve the same wide-eyed wonder and breathless anticipation every child feels waking up on Christmas morning.”
