Celebrating Our 30th Year of Caring for Children!

30th anniversary Holiday Effort Graphic

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Holiday Effort, and we are proud to begin celebrating this extraordinary milestone. For three decades, our community of volunteers, sponsors, and supporters has helped bring comfort, joy, and hope to children and families facing life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses.

What began as a small effort has grown into a remarkable tradition of giving. Last year, thanks to the generosity of thousands of individual and corporate sponsors, we helped more than 850 children across Massachusetts and upstate New York, including siblings, during the holiday season. As we look ahead to our 30th annual Holiday Effort, we hope to help even more children and make this anniversary year our most meaningful yet.

In the coming months, there will be many ways to participate, including Sponsoring a Child, Making a Monetary Donation, Providing a Gift Card Donation, or Sponsoring a Gift Basket. We invite you to join us as we celebrate 30 years of caring and prepare for another special holiday season of giving. Please visit our Holiday Effort page to learn more and follow along as this year’s effort unfolds.

Welcome to Caring for Children!

The Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Foundation (“Caring for Children”) supports families with children suffering from life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses. Caring for Children focuses its support by providing for the children’s basic needs (e.g., clothes, food, housing needs, etc.) and funding educational and enrichment opportunities. We focus much of our support during the holiday season, but we are a year-round provider to people in need. This support would not be possible without the efforts of all of our generous participants which include individuals, families, and corporate sponsors via our annual Holiday Effort fundraising campaign.

Link to: Agios Pharmaceuticals Supports Families with Back-to-School Backpacks

Agios Hosts Back-To-School Backpack Event

Agios Back to School Backpack Event

Caring for Children is incredibly grateful to Agios Pharmaceuticals and its employees for creating such a thoughtful Back-to-School Backpack event. Through their generosity, 60 children living with sickle cell disease received backpacks filled with school supplies and gift cards to help them begin the school year feeling prepared and supported. This meaningful initiative assisted 30 families in recognition of Caring for Children’s 30th anniversary.

We deeply appreciate Agios for continuing to find new ways to make a lasting difference for the children and families we serve.

Read more about the Back-to-School Backpack event.

The Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party

Leah Ellis Wrapping Party graphic

Caring for Children is proud to continue honoring Leah Ellis through The Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party, the new name of our annual Wrapping Party. Renamed in Leah’s memory this past year, this cherished tradition reflects the kindness, generosity, and radiant spirit she brought to the Caring for Children Holiday Effort for so many years.

Leah especially loved the Wrapping Party, where she shared in the joy of giving alongside family, friends, and fellow volunteers. Her enthusiasm and compassion helped make the event even more meaningful for all who participated.

As we celebrate 30 years of Caring for Children, the Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party carries forward Leah’s legacy of love, resilience, and service. Her spirit lives on in this special gathering and in the joy it brings to children and families in need each holiday season.

We are also pleased to announce that this year’s Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party will be held on Sunday, December 13, 2026, continuing this beloved tradition as volunteers and supporters come together once again to make the holidays brighter for the children we serve.

Read more about Leah’s legacy:

Did You Know We Helped Over 850 Children for our Caring for Children 2025 Holiday Effort?

How You Can Help

Sponsor A Child

Sponsor a Child or Family

This donation option allows a volunteer or a group of volunteers to sponsor a child or a family. All volunteers who sponsor a child will receive a personal profile on the child they are assigned, which has been written by the child’s social worker. The personal profile includes clothing sizes, special interests, and “special requests.” We recommend that sponsoring a child requires a minimum of $150-200 per child to ensure a level of equity between all the children within a family. Click here to register to sponsor a child or family.

Monetary Donation

Monetary Donation

A monetary donation can be made in any amount to Caring for Children, which is entirely tax deductible. All monetary donations are used to provide for basic needs and/or educational and enrichment opportunities throughout the year. Donations may be made by credit card or by mailing a check directly to Caring for Children.  Please make your check payable to Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children, and send it to Caring for Children, 260 Mountain Drive, Pittsfield, MA 01201.

Gift Card Donation

Gift Card Donation

In lieu of sponsoring a child, any one of these gift card donation options would be a wonderful way to help the children we care for. All donations are tax deductible and will allow us to help the children we follow, especially the children not sponsored directly by volunteers. There are a variety of different gift cards to choose from, and all gift cards will be utilized to help the children during the holidays or throughout the year. We appreciate all gift cards but clothing and food store gift cards would meet the most urgent needs for children and families. Please click here to register for a gift card donation and to receive mailing instructions.

Gift Basket Donation

Gift Basket for an Adolescent

A Gift Basket for an Adolescent is an excellent option for a volunteer/volunteers who want to help a child in need but have time constraints in shopping for the clothing and other gifts required in sponsoring a child. This donation option, an adolescent gift basket, will provide you with a story on an adolescent boy or girl, and will provide you with the basic elements (primarily gift cards) for assembling an appropriate gift basket. We recommend that typical gift basket will cost $150-$200, and can be handled individually or by a team. Please click here to register to give a gift basket.

How You Can Help

How You Can Help

We are gearing up for our 30th Annual Holiday Effort in November of 2026. There will be several ways to participate to make a difference in the lives of the children whom Caring for Children helps. You can sponsor a child or a family, provide a monetary donation, donate a gift card, or sponsor a gift basket. ALL of our donation/sponsor options below are tax-deductible. Learn about all the ways you can help.

Wrapping Party Volunteer

Wrapping Party Volunteers

Are you a High School student who is looking for some community service hours? Caring for Children needs 10 student volunteers at our Wrapping Party on Sunday, December 13th, from 11:30 am to 4 pm at the Lexington High School Field House. Your role entails greeting sponsors when they arrive with their bags of gifts, bringing the bags into the Field House, and helping the sponsors check-in with the Caring for Children Staff. As a 501c-certified charity, we will send out a completion letter to all participants for their community service hours.

What We Do

Holiday Effort

Holiday Effort Home

Caring for Children’s main fundraising activity is our annual Holiday Effort, which raises money to help children and families facing life-threatening and life-limiting illnesses during the all-important holiday season. In 1997, 40 volunteers took care of 25 children, and now we are incredibly proud to be celebrating our 30th Anniversary this year. In 2025, we had over 1,000 volunteers, 21+ Corporate sponsorships, and eclipsed a milestone in helping over 850+ children and raising the most donations ever. Our Holiday Effort culminates in our annual Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party, which brings together our individual and corporate donors for a festive afternoon. This year, the Wrapping Party will be on Sunday, December 13th, from 12-4 PM. Caring for Children uses the generosity of our monetary donations not only to provide additional support during the holidays for children who are not directly sponsored, but also to fund our year-round educational and enrichment activities. All donation/sponsor options below are tax-deductible. For more information about each fundraising option, please visit our How You Can Help page.

Who We Help

Who We Help Home

We help families with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses by coordinating with social work and palliative care organizations to identify families in need. Caring for Children provides for the basic needs of children, e.g., clothes, food, housing needs, etc., as well as funding educational and enrichment opportunities. Learn more about Who We Help.

The Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party

Wrapping Party Home

As part of our Holiday Effort, we invite all sponsors/participants and their families to our annual Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party. For Holiday Effort 2026, the Wrapping Party will be Sunday, December 13th, from 12-4 pm at the Lexington Field House on the campus of Lexington High, 251 Waltham Street, Lexington, MA. We will provide plenty of wrapping paper, tape, scissors, and a jolly good time for all! Everyone participating in this year’s Holiday Effort 2024 will receive more information after you register, and attending the WP is not a requirement for participating, as alternative plans for your gifts can be made. Note: We do ask that if you are dropping off gifts, you do so by 3pm.

What’s New

Agios Back to School Backpack Event

Agios Pharmaceuticals Supports Families with Back-to-School Backpacks

Agios Pharmaceuticals and its employees graciously helped 60 children living with sickle cell disease prepare for the new school year by purchasing, filling, and delivering backpacks with school supplies and gift cards. We are incredibly grateful for this thoughtful and generous initiative, which supported 30 families in honor of Caring for Children’s 30th anniversary.
Read more
Holiday Effort 2025

Kicking Off Our 29th Annual Holiday Effort

Welcome to the official Kick-Off of the 29th Annual Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Holiday Effort for 2025! We are looking to build on another successful Holiday Effort last year, when numerous companies and individuals directly sponsored 850+ children, and we received a record-setting number of donations to help the children and families in additional ways, not only during the holiday season but also throughout the year. Just a note… if you’d like to Sponsor A Child and be matched before Thanksgiving, kindly register by Wednesday, November 19th. However, the earlier the better, as always.
Read more

John Iovieno Receives an Alumni Award from the University of Rochester

John Iovieno, founder of the Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Foundation, was honored with the 35th Reunion Achievement Award at the University of Rochester’s Class of 1990 Reunion. This award celebrates his nearly three decades of dedicated work supporting families with children facing serious illnesses.
Read more
Leah Ellis Wrapping Party graphic

In Memory of Leah | Announcing The Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party

Leah Ellis' kindness, resilience, and unwavering spirit left a lasting impact on everyone who knew her, making the Wrapping Party a cherished tradition for her and her family. To honor her memory, the Caring for Children Board has unanimously decided to rename the event The Leah Ellis Memorial Wrapping Party, celebrating her love for giving and bringing joy to others. Leah’s compassion and selflessness, even in the face of her challenges, embody the very heart of this annual tradition.
Read more
Holiday Effort

Kicking Off Our 28th Annual Holiday Effort

Welcome to the official Kick-Off of the 28th Annual Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Holiday Effort for 2024! We are looking to build upon another successful Holiday Effort last year, during which 800+ children were directly sponsored by numerous companies and individuals. We received a record-setting amount of donations to help the children and families in additional ways, not only during the holiday season but also throughout the entire year. Just a note: If you’d like to Sponsor A Child and be matched before Thanksgiving, kindly register by Friday, November 22nd. However, as always, the earlier, the better.
Read more
CFC 2023 Register

Kicking Off Our 27th Annual Holiday Effort

Welcome to our 27th Annual Frank and Rosemary Iovieno Caring for Children Holiday Effort for 2023! Last year's 26th Holiday Effort was a huge success for the Caring for Children organization as we helped over 800+ children. We have never eclipsed 800 children before, so this was a monumental and memorable effort that we take great pride in. We would like to once again send out a huge thanks to the participation and generosity of thousands of sponsors (corporate and individual sponsorship) for enabling Caring for Children to achieve such a milestone effort. The children we support have life-threatening and/or life-limiting illnesses (siblings included) and live throughout Massachusetts and upstate New York.
Read more

Thanks to our Corporate Sponsors!