Driven to Bring Joy to Children
by Hedy Bass
Cassia Petracca and Kristine Litton, two Seminole County mothers and longtime friends, have turned their passions into charitable causes that benefit our community. Both women have a heart for helping children and their families.
While the impetus for their respective endeavors stems from very different circumstances, the women share a common goal – to bring joy to people when they least expect it but need it most. One woman does this with a toy drive; while the other does the same with a backpack drive.
Addison’s Toy Chest
On September 15, 2015, Addison Grace Petracca was born, “red-faced and mad like any other baby, but with a host of medical issues,” says Cassia Petracca on the website dedicated to her late daughter.
A variety of medical specialists, including a fetal cardiologist, told Cassia and her husband Dominic that their baby was going to be medically fragile.
“We didn’t know then just how big a deal it was,” says Cassia, who lives in Sanford. “We thought she was going to get better.”
The couple spent two months with their baby in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). It was there they learned that Addison had a congenital heart defect, interstitial lung disease, and a rare genetic deletion the doctors had not seen before.
Sometimes, Addison’s body would fill up with fluid which would go straight to her heart and lungs, causing respiratory failure. The couple sought the help of doctors at UF Health Shands Hospital with the hope that Addison might be a heart transplant candidate, but sadly, she was not. Addison passed away in 2017.
The memory of the first Christmas Cassia and Dominic shared with their daughter inspired an idea – one that would honor Addison’s memory while also helping other families going through a rough time. That idea would eventually become the nonprofit Addison’s Toy Chest.
“We had been in the hospital for eight weeks when Santa came around with a
bag of toys for the children,” recalls Cassia. “We were given decorations, a small Christmas tree, and stockings for our room. It brightened our day.”
Adds Cassia, “After Addison passed, I wanted another family to feel good like we did at Christmas. The next Christmas, we asked our family not to buy gifts for us but to buy toys for children in the hospital.”
Then, in 2020, while pregnant with the couple’s second daughter, Olivia, Cassia decided to do even more to help other kids. Cassia turned to social media to tell Addison’s story and explain how she wanted to help other children in pediatric hospitals at Christmas. Soon, rooms in the Petraccas’ home were being filled with more toys and donations than she could have dreamed of receiving.
The outpouring prompted her sister to suggest that Cassia expand the toy drive by turning Addison’s Toy Chest into an official 501(c)(3) organization. In 2022, that’s exactly what Cassia did. The nonprofit collects new toys and supplies for hospitalized infants, children, and teens at Christmas and in July (for Christmas in July).
As Addison’s Toy Chest grows, so do its efforts to reach out to local families with children in the hospital. Bringing light and comfort to those families, as others did for Cassia and Dominic, ensures Addison’s memory will continue to burn brightly.
To learn more about Addison or get involved in the toy drive, visit AddisonsToyChest.com.
Susan Kristine Backpack Drive
Kristine Litton has fond memories of volunteering at The Sharing Center in Longwood as a young woman. When Kristine returned home from college during breaks, she enjoyed helping with some of the nonprofit organization’s fundraising galas. One of her favorites was the Bless Our Soles event for families in need at Easter, before the start of a new school year, and at Christmas. At each event, children received a $25 gift card to select a new pair of shoes from a local shoe store.
“The event made me remember how excited I was as a kid to pick out a new backpack and a pair of shoes for the first day of school,” says Kristine, who lives in Lake Mary.
“I was fortunate to have new shoes every year, but what gave me the most joy was getting a new backpack and setting new goals,” she says. “Having a new backpack made me feel like it would be a great year.”
That feeling led her to launch the Susan Kristine Backpack Drive, named after her aunt, Susan, and her grandmother, also named Kristine. The mission is to collect and distribute new backpacks for underserved children before the beginning of every school year.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think it could grow to where it is today,” says Kristine.
She began her endeavor by emailing friends and family and enlisting the help of her husband, Jon, and his brother, who collected donations from their business partners and vendors. In 2017, Kristine and her helpers collected 57 backpacks. With each successive year, the initiative has grown significantly. In 2024, the drive yielded 1,807 backpacks.
The Susan Kristine Backpack Drive has donated backpacks to The Sharing Center, Rescue Outreach Mission, the Families in Need program at Seminole County Public Schools, and the Tools 4 Seminole Schools initiative.
“Talk about a grassroots operation,” says Kristine with a laugh. “I do all the deliveries of backpacks, sometimes with the help of my husband and our children, Madi and Colt. I pray it makes a difference to the students. If we can create hope and positivity, perhaps they’ll pay the kindness forward.”
For details or to get involved in the backpack drive, contact Kristine at klitton2144@gmail.com.