Yes, You Can Still Support Valley Youth House’s Holiday Giving for LGBTQ Youth

Photo by J. Fusco for Visit Philadelphia

Never underestimate the power of a touching article.

Last year, G Philly ran a story about Valley Youth House, a nonprofit working to combat youth homelessness, and its quest to find 250 “Secret Santas” for LGBTQ youth.

Within days of the story’s original release, the organization surpassed its goal. Before G Philly could release a new call for Secret Santas for this year’s holiday seasonal event, a viral re-sharing of last year’s article garnered enough buzz to match the nonprofit’s goal within 48 hours.

“I first saw last year’s G Philly article on Facebook last Monday being shared by one of our supporters … 48 hours later we had over 200 inquiries through our website and matched 250 youth,” said Valerie Johnson, Assistant Director of Development for VYH. “I am certain the article was shared at least 25 times based on how many times I saw it pop up … we had to turn the registration off once we had everyone matched last Tuesday. We were seeing about 10 inquiries an hour when we shut it down … we’re so grateful for the support of the G Philly community.”

But just in case you weren’t one of the generous Secret Santas who got the chance to support 250 homeless and foster care youth throughout the five-county Philadelphia area for the holidays, there’s still another way you can make an impact.

VYH has opened up an online Amazon registry for people to be able to purchase items that will go toward their general holiday gift drive. Item suggestions range as low as $3 to the most expensive item marked at $200. The registry will be up from now until the item list is complete. Giving Tuesday is only a week away — this be could be your chance to start early.