Community support lights the way for Home of the Innocents through Jude's Jingle Tree

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The spirit of the holiday season isn't found in the lights or the decorations. It's found in the moments and memories banked from year to year.

That was the feeling inside a Home of the Innocents bus as it drove through Lights Under Louisville at the Mega Cavern. Some of the children on board are medically fragile or wheelchair-bound, and the bus keeps them in the warm stable environment needed during the cold months.

Michelle Senesac, program manager at Home of the Innocents, was behind the wheel of the bus, as nurses and respiratory therapists rode in the back, ready to help as needed.

The children on board the bus may not be able to voice the excitement they feel during this trip to Lights Under Louisville, but their caretakers know they feel it.

"(It's) their facial expressions," Senesac said. "... Sometimes just seeing their laughter, or them opening their eyes."

This is one of several trips just like it that will happen between now and Christmas.

"(They're) wonderful opportunities that would not be possible without community support members and Jude and all the things that everybody does for us," Senesac said.

That could explain why giving to Jude's Jingle Tree has grown into such a community event. It started in 2017 with an idea from WDRB meteorologist Jude Redfield to just collect ornaments, decorate the station tree and then donate the decorations to the Home of the Innocents.

By 2018, Jingle Tree started collecting donations for HOI and raised $6,750. In 2019, the total was about the same collecting $7,000, and in 2020 the total went to $7,879, and by 2021, the total grew to $12,793.

But Jude wanted to do more and so did our viewers. In 2022, the donation raised by Jingle Tree went up to $98,359! In 2023, it was $105,000. In 2024, Jude Redfield and WDRB Mornings presented a check to the Home of the Innocents for a record $225,022.99!

Established in 1880, Home of the Innocents enriches the lives of children and families with hope, health, and happiness. Programs include residential and community-based behavioral health services, therapeutic foster care and adoption services, supportive services for homeless young adults, and long-term care for medically complex or terminally ill children.

The deadline for ornaments to arrive by mail for Jude's Jingle Tree is Dec. 12, 2025, but you can make a financial donation anytime. Please make checks payable to the Home of the Innocents with a memo to Jude's Jingle Tree.

WDRB Mornings will have a grand total and a check presentation to the Home of the Innocents on the show Friday, Dec. 19.