- December 10, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
Ocoee’s Terrie Scott will never forget waking up one Christmas morning as a child in 1992 to find bikes for her and her twin sister.
She couldn’t believe it.
Scott knew her family struggled financially and never expected much. Growing up in Texas, Scott’s dad did refinery work, and her mother worked part-time, but with seven children, it was hard to make ends meet. They moved around several times because of increasing rent. Her family relied on schools and churches for Thanksgiving meals, Christmas presents and school supplies. The children received free lunches and clothes at school.
So to receive a bike for Christmas was life-changing, she said.
“They were used, but we didn’t care,” Scott said. “We thought we were the richest people in the neighborhood because we got a bike. … It was a turning point where we were just like, ‘Wow, the community stepped up.’”
A lesson Scott always learned from her parents that has shaped her heart to this day is no matter if they couldn’t financially give to others, they found other ways to serve and help.
“They wouldn’t have a shirt hanging in the closet, but they would give you the shirt off their back,” she said of her parents.
This mentality and her experiences growing up is what led Scott to start the nonprofit, A Heart to Give, which will provide toys to more than 2,200 children this holiday season.
A Heart to Give has come a long way since its inception in 2019.
Scott had stopped volunteering for another nonprofit in 2018 but still had a heart to serve others.
With her connections from the previous nonprofit, people were calling her at Thanksgiving for help, and she wasn’t going to say no. She collected food to feed dozens of families.
Christmastime was no different. She knew there were families needing assistance to ensure the magic of Christmas was alive that holiday season.
In 2018, she rallied people together to sponsor 48 children.
But she knew she could and wanted to do more in a more organized effort. She believes in accountability and transparency, and she never wants anyone to question the integrity of her or her nonprofit.
So, A Heart to Give was born.
“If you have a beating heart, you have something to give, whether it’s a kind word, whether it’s money or food, you have something to give,” Scott said.
In 2019, the nonprofit sponsored 100 children and since then, it has grown to serve 2,200 children with its toy drive last year, with even more expected this year.
But the nonprofit does more than its toy drive, which is its biggest event of the year.
A Heart to Give conducts a food drive to provide meals for Thanksgiving. It hosts a supply drive before school starts. The nonprofit helps single moms and individuals in domestic violence situations.
Recently, the nonprofit helped furnish a home for a mom who left Harbor House of Central Florida and was able to move into a home. The nonprofit also provided a crib and stroller to a teen mom.
“We don’t want them to have to feel that burden on them,” Scott said. “Throughout the year, we’ll check in and be like, ‘Hey, what else can we help you with? How can we support you?’ … Just knowing we are making a true difference is the coolest thing.”
Scott wouldn’t be able to do everything without the support of the community.
She has schools and businesses providing angel trees to sponsor children for the toy drive.
Any time she posts a call for help on social media, someone answers that call.
A Heart to Give helps people through their difficult times. Whether it’s providing presents or a Thanksgiving meal or helping someone who is trying to escape domestic violence and start over in a new home or ensure students have school supplies to start the year off right, Scott and her nonprofit will do what they can to support the community.
“If you can give someone just a shimmer of hope, you can help change the trajectory of someone’s life,” she said.
Two years ago, a woman came to Scott’s door to receive the gifts through A Heart to Give. Every child is sponsored and receives at least three gifts, so Scott walked out of the home with three trash bags filled with wrapped gifts for the woman’s two kids.
The mother bawled.
For 30 minutes, the mother and Scott sat on Scott’s porch talking. Scott listened to the mother explain her situation as she was going through a divorce, Scott provided encouragement.
The next February, Scott learned the mother no longer needed assistance.
“You never know what the impact that is being made until maybe years later, but you’re planting the seed,” Scott said.
A Heart to Give will help as many families as possible.
Scott received a call from Ocoee Elementary School last year on Dec. 18, just a week before Christmas. She was told another family was identified as needing assistance.
Scott sprung into action. She called the family, learned the children’s names, ages and a few of the items they wanted for Christmas.
The sponsor who stepped up for the family went all out and bought almost everything on their lists.
When the mother arrived at Scott’s home, Scott told her she would have to take most of the gifts and come back. When the mother asked why, Scott surprised her.
The vanity her daughter dreamed of for Christmas was waiting in the house for her.
“She fell to her knees praising Jesus, and she said (the vanity) was the one thing (her daughter) wanted,” Scott said with a smile. “I will never forget that lady, but she no longer is on our list. She doesn’t need assistance anymore.”
There are families who went to A Heart to Give for assistance that now are sponsoring children themselves, which Scott finds incredible. They were touched by the help the nonprofit provided and now are paying it forward to another family.
Every holiday season, Scott’s home becomes its own North Pole and workshop flooded with toys.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Scott spends every spare minute wrapping gifts. The main floor of her home becomes filledwith presents perfectly wrapped and waiting to be picked up and given to families in Ocoee, Winter Garden, Horizon West, Gotha, Windermere, Clermont and other areas.
She loves hearing the stories from sponsors about the excitement to shop for the children.
Sandi Ward has been sponsoring children through A Heart to Give since its inception. She said Scott and her nonprofit are teaching people that wealth isn’t money but rather kindness and community.
“Participating (in the toy drive) is an opportunity for us to be humble, to take a moment during the holidays and recognize we’re blessed,” Ward said.
She has a special heart for grandparents raising their grandchildren as she was raised by her grandmother. So any time Scott has a child being raised by grandparents, Ward jumps at the opportunity to sponsor that child.
“When I get this family of a grandma raising their grandchildren, it takes me back to a place where, I think at the time, I didn’t realize we didn’t have a lot of money. We just didn’t, but we always had Christmas gifts,” she said. “If I can make that happen for another grandmother, so that her grandchildren don’t know, they can keep that innocence, they can keep that excitement, I totally want to do it over and over again.”
For some sponsors, shopping becomes a family affair. Ward has a daughter with autism who is a huge Michael Jackson fan. One year, she sponsored a little girl who also happened to be a fan of the pop icon, so Ward went to her daughter for ideas.
Her daughter knew exactly what to purchase: Michael Jackson stickers, pins, a purse and more.
“We were able to customize something and it made my daughter feel amazing because there’s somebody out there who loves Michael Jackson too, and we were able to gift it,” she said.
On Christmas Day, Scott sometimes will receive photos of the children opening their presents. It melts her heart seeing her nonprofit making a difference.
If she’s able, she will send the photos to the family that sponsored the child so they can see the impact they made that holiday season.
