With the holiday season here, it is a time when we should remember those who may be struggling through this time of the year. This is also a time when we should remember how we can help make this difficult season more enjoyable for people who wrestle with this family oriented holiday celebration.

Kinderhaven is an organization local to Sandpoint that takes kids in who have nowhere to live, giving them a safe, comfortable home, a family environment, and other kinds of assistance that they might need.

One of the best ways to describe this wonderful facility, is that it’s just like any other home you can think of. The faculty at Kinderhaven have shifts they share; living in the home 24 hours with all of the kids who live there during that time. This home functions just as any other home, the kids having chores, rules being followed, and homework being done, but there is also a great sense of camaraderie, and the feeling of a working family, which most of the kids living there are unfamiliar with.

Kinderhaven is a non-profit organization, all income that they receive goes towards keeping their facility running and helping others in need and comes as donations from local businesses, organizations like churches and community centers, their ‘Kinderhaven Angels’, and also through the annual fundraiser, the Festival of Trees which they are able to put on with the help of momentous donations and support from the community.

Every year in November, Kinderhaven puts on their Festival of Trees, which lasts three days including a Family Night on Thursday, which is free to attend and people can come and see all the wreaths that have been donated and the decorated trees that are going to be auctioned off. On Friday, the Holiday Luncheon happens as well as the silent auction for all the donated auction items. Finally on  Saturday, the Kinderhaven Gala takes place and the Kinderhaven trees are auctioned in a semi-formal event.

The Festival of Trees is the biggest fundraiser that Kinderhaven puts on annually, and because all of the income they receive, that helps to keep their organization running, comes from donations and these annual fundraisers, it’s important for our community to remember wonderful organizations like this that help people in our county, simply through the kindness of their hearts.