RIVERBEND – The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Dream Home Charities are asking for the community’s help to make sure local foster kids have a merry Christmas.
Sherry Gilleland, owner of Dream Home Realty Centre and founder of Dream Home Charities, provides Christmas gifts to 25 families and 85 foster kids across five local counties. But on Dec. 12, 2024, she was delivering gifts to DCFS when she discovered the tailgate of her truck was down, and she had lost hundreds of gifts along the road.
Gilleland shared that donations were already low this year, and they struggled to get the toys, clothing, sanitary products and other gifts that families and kids asked for. She is devastated by the loss. Now, DCFS and Dream Home Charities are asking the community to do what they can to help out.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the community and our family and our friends,” Gilleland said. “I’m very blessed that we do have our family and friends who always try to donate to us. Every year, we try to have a successful fundraiser. But I think this year has just been kind of hard on everybody, and people just didn’t have the extra money to donate.”
Gilleland always helps others, and now she is asking for help herself. After the loss, they need the community’s support so they can provide Christmas gifts for these kids.
For the past 15 years, Gilleland has worked with DCFS to give Christmas to local families. DCFS workers help the kids write lists to Santa, and then Dream Home Charities buys the top three needs and wants for every child, so they get exactly what they asked for.
“When we get [the lists], it’s kind of overwhelming because there’s so many, and I just pray about it. How are we going to do this, God? And every year, it comes through,” Gilleland said. “And then last night, when I lost some of those toys, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there can’t be anybody that doesn’t have a Christmas this year.’”
Tiffany Gula, area administrator with DCFS, added that Gilleland is “a huge blessing” to the department. Gula noted that a lot of the families they work with are on fixed incomes, or they didn’t plan for additional children to enter their lives and they don’t have the budget for Christmas. They rely on Dream Home Charities to help them provide Christmas for these children.
“There’s a lot of families that depend on this every year,” Gula said. “A lot of our kids don’t have family support. We call her Santa Sherry because she provides Christmas for them. A lot of people depend on that every year.”
Dream Home Charities also helps community members pay bills, and they give gas cards to parents who have children in St. Louis hospitals. They ask for donations year-round, but this season is especially important so they can help local foster kids have a happy holiday.
As they work to make up for the lost gifts, the community can help with monetary donations. Gilleland and DCFS will use the funds to replace the gifts so every foster kid in the Riverbend area receives Christmas presents.
To donate, you can click here or Venmo @Sherry-Gilleland. You can also drop off checks or monetary donations at Dream Home Realty Centre at 543 E. Ferguson Ave. in Wood River. Donations are tax-deductible. For more information about Dream Home Charities and their work, visit DreamHomeCharities.com.
“The social workers tell me if not for Dream Home Charities, these families and kids get left out. So they know every year that Dream Home Charities is going to supply Christmas to them,” Gilleland said. “Together, we can and we will make a difference.”
