After a long hiatus, Inside South Florida welcomed back Handfuls of Hope Toy Drive founders Barbara Perpignan and her daughter Jazz Archat to share the growth and impact of their holiday mission. What began as a small initiative in 2008 with just 100 toys has now expanded to three cities—Indianapolis, Miami, and, as of this year, Toledo, Ohio—bringing smiles to thousands of children during the holiday season.
Barbara explained how the operation has evolved over the years: “When we first started, we talked about 100 toys. It was just a really cool thing at that time. And from there, it just grew. I moved to South Florida in 2013 and didn’t stop doing it. Every year we have some NFL guys, some artists, just some people that we’ve partnered with over the years. Demesmin and Dover is our big sponsor. This is their third year on board with us. So we love Victor and Jeremy and the things that they do to help us get these toys and get them out.”
For Jazz, seeing her mother’s vision expand has been deeply touching: “It is incredible just to see where we started. My mom had this vision of always wanting to give back. She always instilled that in us from a young age. And the holiday season can be very stressful when you have kids and they’re expecting Santa to come. And so if we can empower more parents to be able to give that magic to their kids, that’s that’s really all that it’s about.”…