Restoring Hope
How the 2 Fishes Project transforms Christmas for North Texas families
By Sonia Duggan
While most people are packing away Christmas decorations in January, Danielle Girdano is already thinking about the next holiday season.
Christmas, after all, isn’t just a single day on the calendar.
For Girdano, it’s a year-round mission.
For nearly 30 years, the North Texas resident has quietly dedicated herself to ensuring families facing financial hardship don’t have to spend Christmas wondering how they’ll provide gifts for their children—or whether they’ll celebrate at all.
That mission eventually grew into the 2 Fishes Project, a nonprofit that has transformed thousands of holiday wishes into reality while building a network of volunteers, businesses and community organizations committed to restoring hope.
“The mission of the 2 Fishes Project is about restoring hope, renewing faith and really being the extension of Christ,” Girdano said.
The organization serves families through two programs.
Many receive what Girdano calls “Reindeer Families” deliveries in November, allowing parents to tuck away gifts until Christmas morning. Others are invited to an unforgettable Christmas Eve celebration at her property, where families gather for a “Feast of the Seven Fishes” dinner, fellowship, gifts and an evening many describe as “life changing.”
Families attending the Christmas Eve event are referred through community agencies and nonprofit partners because attendance is limited by available space and the amount of food prepared.
Unlike many holiday programs, the 2 Fishes Project focuses on entire families—not just children.
“We take care of the whole family,” Girdano said. “It’s not just about the kids.”
Parents, grandparents and even family pets are remembered, helping relieve some of the financial burden families face during the holidays.
Months in advance, each family completes a detailed questionnaire that helps volunteers personalize every gift, from favorite colors and hobbies to clothing sizes and Christmas wishes.
The nonprofit provides everything from toys and bicycles to clothing, school supplies, household items and gifts for family pets. Some families have received grills, dollhouses, diapers and strollers, depending on their needs.
As the mission grew, so did the space required to make it happen.
At one point, nearly every room in Girdano’s Nevada-area home became filled with toys, bicycles and gifts.
“Every single room in my house was taken up,” she said.
“Even my Steelers room.”
Her garage quickly followed.
In 2024, with the help of volunteers and several Wylie businesses, a storage building was constructed on her property, allowing the nonprofit to continue accepting donations and expand its reach.
“It just opened up where now I was able to take stuff and not have to turn things away,” Girdano said.
Making that happen requires months of preparation — and a growing network of community partners.
“We rely on partnerships to keep doing this work,” Girdano said. “Without partnerships we couldn’t make magic moment dreams happen.”
Amazing Grace Food Pantry has been one of the project’s top community partners for the past four years. The nonprofit also works with 5 Loaves Ministries, Wylie ISD and organizations throughout the county.
Last year, Five Below became the nonprofit’s largest corporate sponsor, donating overstock merchandise that helps fill wish lists for hundreds of families.
Danny Catlin, merchandise manager for Five Below in McKinney, first learned about the organization through volunteers at Amazing Grace Food Pantry. After making an initial donation, he shared the opportunity with other Five Below stores, several of which also began contributing overstock merchandise.
“I just contact Danielle when we have overstock,” he said. “It’s just worked ever since then.”
“We appreciate what’s she’s doing for the community and we’re proud that Five Below can give back to the community and support the kids and families as needed,” Catlin added.
“They genuinely wanted to be part of the solution and jumped in with both feet,” Girdano said.
Behind every Christmas delivery is an army of volunteers.
Tim Vernon started volunteering last year after his fiancé Rosa Espina, also a volunteer, introduced him to the project. He is now the social media director and is also hoping to connect with sponsors.
“It’s honestly a blessing to be a part of it, to see the look and the pure joy in the family’s eyes when they’re able to receive gifts and have a Christmas they may not have been able to provide on their own.”
Amanda Johnson, a senior citizen, met Girdano at church four years ago and was invited to the celebration.
Johnson remembers being struck by the generosity of the evening.
“Everybody who shows up receives gifts,” she said, adding that while it takes three hours for Santa to hand out the gifts, “what is so great for me is just to watch the kids.”
The gift collecting and wrapping begins well before November arrives. Volunteers sort donations, repair bicycles, organize wish lists and prepare hundreds of personalized gifts destined for homes across the region.
One longtime volunteer, Joe of Wylie, spends weeks repairing bicycles so every child who asks for one can ride away Christmas morning.
Last year alone, Girdano devoted roughly 1,500 hours to the effort while volunteers added several hundred more. By Christmas, the team had gone through the equivalent of nearly 65 football fields of wrapping paper, more than four miles of tape, hundreds of sheets of tissue paper and approximately 500 gift bags.
“It’s amazing when you sit back and look at it when you’re done,” she said.
The Christmas Eve celebration itself reflects Girdano’s Italian and Sicilian heritage.
She spends nearly two full days preparing a traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, welcoming guests with cheeses, breads, olive oils, olives and roasted vegetables before serving homemade pasta topped with a marinara sauce that simmers for 36 hours. Shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, calamari, oysters and other seafood complete the meal before Santa Claus arrives.
When dinner ends, the celebration moves outdoors.
Bicycles line the property alongside larger gifts waiting to surprise families.
“My goal is to get every child a bicycle who wants a bicycle,” Girdano said.
The evening concludes with a 15-minute fireworks display, ending a celebration built not only around presents but around creating memories.
But after the guests have gone home and the excitement has faded, the weight of the mission can catch up with Girdano. After one celebration, Johnson and a small group of volunteers remained behind talking when Girdano became overwhelmed with emotion.
“She literally started crying because she couldn’t do more,” Johnson said. “Some of us just thought, we’ve got to help her do more.”
Johnson later joined the board of directors.
“It was too good to just pass up,” she said. “I had to be a part of it.”
After the last gifts are opened and the final guests have gone home, Girdano and her family head to midnight Mass. Only then does she finally allow herself to exhale.
For most families, Christmas Day marks the end of the holiday season. For Girdano, it’s only a brief pause.
A few days later, she’s back at work, collecting wrapping paper and overstock merchandise as retailers clear their holiday shelves and preparations quietly begin again.
This year, nearly 2,000 families applied for assistance in just over three weeks. Reviews continue through Sept. 16, but Girdano is always looking for ways to help even more families.
The organization continues to seek additional storage space, transportation and business partners willing to donate merchandise and other resources.
This holiday season could become the biggest in 2 Fishes Project history, but Girdano isn’t measuring success by numbers.
She’s measuring it one family at a time.
“If we get another retailer to come on with us, or if there’s a bump in the items that I can get hold of, then I’ll do as many families as I have stuff for,” she said. “It’s actually very, very exciting.”
Contact Girdano at [email protected].