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Her plea has gone viral, already surpassing her initial $3,500 fundraising goal, but still needs volunteers to help pull it off.

“I’m still looking for people to help out with gift-wrapping. I want to do big decorated boxes,” said Smith. “I want it to be an incredible presentation as the kids run in and see these gifts so I’m trying to get volunteers in line so it’s very well organized.”

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Carolynn Smith
PHOTO: Carolynn Smith, the host of an inner-city Tampa Christmas charity event, speaks at the podium two years ago.
>

She said a lot of these kids never get to experience the magic of Santa, so she’s working to make this an “amazing event” for them.

“A lot of these families don’t have the money to talk about Santa coming to bring presents, because a lot of them don’t have trees to put them under,” said Smith. “It’s more about religion and Jesus Christ and focusing on being grateful for what they do have. But this is a strong calling and passion on my life. Even though I don’t have a big organization to raise money with, there was no doubt in my mind I could do something on my own. My original goal was to at least get one gift for each kid and do a Christmas and candy bar, and now it’s turned into something much bigger.”

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