Discover Giving365.org: Empowering Communities

Giving 365 began as Christmas 365 in 2005, when Dr. Kimberly Kimpel saw an unmet need in her community: while there were numerous local organizations offering essential services to families in need, these families struggled during the holiday season to enjoy the celebration and gift-giving that bring joy into the season for many of us.

That year, she launched an event hosting community members in her own home with a brilliant display of Christmas trees and sought donations of gifts for families in need. The annual event helped local families in need find joy and celebration in the holiday season, but it wasn’t long before Dr. Kimpel and others involved in the event saw that the holiday season was not the only time this kind of giving was needed. They imagined being a parent unable to celebrate their child’s birthday with cake or gifts, or struggling to put together a Thanksgiving celebration with limited resources, or even having to send your child to school without adequate school supplies.

With that, Giving 365 was born with the mission to support families, individuals and youth to be able to celebrate the same milestones we all celebrate, from Mother’s and Father’s Day to Thanksgiving to birthdays, as well as support community members with back-to-school supplies and other expenses some families struggle to cover, giving children the opportunity to pursue interests, be it sports, music, or other passions. Giving 365 became a hub of year-round, neighbor-to-neighbor giving, where donors were able to lend a helping hand within their own community and help ensure that local families, individuals and youth could share in the joys and celebrations that mark our lives, despite financial struggles.

As Giving 365 worked with local families to support them year-round, the organization began to drill down to the core issues that surround and perpetuate the financial instability with which they struggle. Dr. Kimpel realized that at the core of the cycle of poverty and instability was housing. Be it unaffordable housing sucking away a large proportion or income, overcrowded housing situations or other conditions where conflict and instability was a major factor, it became clear that unstable housing was at the root of the problems these families and individuals faced.

These revelations about the centrality of the housing issue led Dr. Kimpel to a new vision for how 365 could help local families. In the future, Giving 365 will help to interrupt the cycle of poverty by temporarily alleviating their client’s concern over housing, allowing them to focus their energies on gaining financial stability, job security and building the best version of themselves, challenges that Giving 365 will continue to help them with through education and year-round support.

Giving 365 relaunched two years ago with an eye toward building their capacity to help families, individuals, and youth address housing instability as well as continuing their work to support neighbor-to-neighbor giving and provide the critical life skills education they have always provided. With the support of an engaged and caring community, Giving 365 is confident we can reimagine the way that we support low-income families in our own communities, and lead the way for communities across America to raise one another up.

Dr. Kimberly Kimpel was honored to receive the

First 5 Riverside County 2023 Champion for Children Nominee 

60th Assembly District 2022 Women of Distinction Honoree