Be Their Valentine

Happy Valentine’s Day! That sentiment seems to elicit many different reactions, from ooey gooey joy to minor irritation. Whether this is your favorite holiday ever or you’re contemplating going back to bed for the day, hi. I think you’re fantastic.

Valentine’s Day has too much pressure to be amazing, so my husband and I have always gone the other way. We channel our most boring and mundane selves into this day as a quiet protest against card companies that would seek to pressure us into romance and candy hearts. We typically watch TV and go to sleep early, giving Cupid the side eye and whispering that he’s not the boss of us.

Now that we have kids, the whole holiday really feels more like homework for parents, between the class parties and individual valentines for each classmate. We spend the whole week preparing for our kids to have whimsical Valentine’s Day experiences. They mostly eat too much sugar and red dye at school, come home hopped up, whirl around the house until bedtime, and collapse in their beds with candy hearts still stubbornly stuck between their teeth.

So Valentine’s Day is not always magical. But we at HopeChest are here to help salvage this day from the wreckage of expectations and sugary school parties. Whether or not you are someone’s valentine today, you can be someone’s valentine, someone who would really appreciate all you have to offer.

Americans spent over 19 billion dollars on Valentine’s Day last year.* Wanna invest in something that lasts a bit longer? The kids in our programs are sweeter than cupcakes and we’d love (no arrows required) to invite you to be their valentine this year and make a one-time donation for our Community-to-Community initiatives around the world. You can invest in transformation, which tastes better than chocolate and is more beautiful than flowers.