Our story
A Day of Giving started with a few local business owners who saw people in trouble and decided to help together. They haven't stopped since.
2016
Where it started
Long before Purposeful Giving Alliance had a name, Brian Morris and David Bell were each giving back in their own way. In 2016, David’s company donated a backyard to a family who had lost money to an unlicensed contractor, a story covered by the Peoria Times. They joined forces in 2017.
Late summer 2017
Then, Texas
When Hurricane Harvey flooded southeast Texas, Brian Morris of We Fix Ugly Pools (today President and Co-Founder of Purposeful Giving Alliance), David Bell of Advant-Edge Curbing and Landscaping (today Vice President and Co-Founder of Purposeful Giving Alliance) and Dave Delvecchio of ABD Signs and Printing started a relief drive called We Support Texas. The plan was one semi-truck of donated goods. With trucks from Garcia International Transport, and later help from Mesa's Superstition Farms, it turned into multiple trips. By mid-September the group had four truckloads going, 10 drop-off spots around the Valley and $16,000 of its own money in it. On September 11, 2017, Superstition Farms brought 12 dogs from Pups in Peril, a rescue in Beaumont, Texas, back to Arizona to find homes.
December 16, 2017
The first official A Day of Giving
Back in Peoria, Brian Morris, David Bell and Dave Delvecchio, joined by a few more local businesses, called themselves the Holiday Squad. In late November they planned a community giveaway, had about a week to spread the word, and filled a 300-square-foot warehouse with donations. On Saturday, December 16, 2017, volunteers started moving boxes at 3:30 a.m. from a warehouse on Bell Road to the Fire Station No. 1 lot in Old Town Peoria, in space provided by Lucidi Distilling Co. The day was hosted with AFSCME Local 3282, the City of Peoria employees' union. Families picked up clothing, blankets, diapers, baby food, canned goods, toiletries, water and toys, decorated Christmas cookies, got their faces painted and met Santa. Peoria Fire-Medical cadets and a Peoria Police sergeant pitched in, and Divine Auto Glass, Peoria Ford, Cranmore Flooring and Midwest Food Bank helped pay for it. The goal from the first year was to do it again every December. That first A Day of Giving served 80 families.
“It's better to give than receive, because it always comes back.”
2019 and after
Growing together
In 2019, A Day of Giving moved to Peoria Community Center. For years the event ran without a formal charity, carried by the founders’ businesses. In early 2025, Brian Morris and David Bell formally founded Purposeful Giving Alliance (opens in a new tab), which now operates A Day of Giving. The IRS recognized Purposeful Giving Alliance (opens in a new tab) as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in February 2025 (EIN 33-3306350). What started as one program is now four, including back-to-school backpack drives and support for the families of police, fire and other service workers lost in the line of duty.
The early years, 2018
Who's behind it
Purposeful Giving Alliance was co-founded by Brian Morris of We Fix Ugly Pools and David Bell of Advant-Edge Curbing and Landscaping, today AE Outdoor Living. Brian serves as President and Co-Founder of the alliance, and David as Vice President and Co-Founder.
Every year since, it has run on local sponsors, city crews, first responders and hundreds of neighbors who give up a December Saturday.
Brian and David through the years
The work behind the day, 2025
December 19, 2026
Year ten
The 10th annual A Day of Giving is Saturday, December 19, 2026, at Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 N 83rd Ave, Peoria. Same idea as 2017: toys for the kids, a holiday meal for the family, and nobody pays.
Watch the 2025 recap
