{"id":66891,"date":"2025-12-21T16:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T16:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/66891\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T16:25:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T16:25:27","slug":"erie-family-honors-late-daughter-with-toy-drive-for-children-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/66891\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie family honors late daughter with toy drive for children in need"},"content":{"rendered":"

The holiday season is upon us, and for many, that means spending time with loved ones. One local church used some of their holiday spirit to help a family honor a special little girl who\u2019s no longer with us by collecting toys for children in need.<\/p>\n

At just five years old, Yoleena Hull was diagnosed with leukemia and battled with the illness for about 16 months.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\u2018Family Matters\u2019 program prepares graduates for workplace success\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Yoleena passed away in 2014 at the age of six. Mrs. Hull said that she and her husband wanted to honor her, and after several years of grieving, they are proud to be hosting the third annual Princess Yoleena Hull Memorial Toy Drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the spirit that she had, when we was in Children\u2019s Hospital in Pittsburgh, she would always go to the other children\u2019s room to help them or give them toys, to you know, just to strengthen them and to be their friend. So, in honor of her, we will have the toy drive since she had the spirit of giving,\u201d said Yoleena\u2019s mother, Yolanda Hull.<\/p>\n

Her parents said that while they wish they had more time with her, they thank God for the opportunity to be her parents and the joy that she gave not only to them but to everyone around her. <\/p>\n

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\n\t\tErie Mayor Schember looks back, forward at press conference\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI closed the door and she\u2019s laying in bed because she couldn\u2019t get up. And she saying, \u2018open up the door, open up the door,\u2019 I\u2019m crying, my wife, crying, why we opening up the door, you know\u2026I can\u2019t remember the little girl\u2019s name, she said, \u2018She\u2019s supposed to walk 10 laps and she ain\u2019t walked today. Tell her I can\u2019t walk with her today, but I\u2019m going to count every lap she walks past my room,\u201d her father Floyd Hull said, recounting the moments after they were told the heartbreaking news that Yoleena\u2019s Leukemia was terminal.<\/p>\n

The Hulls said that last year they were able to help around 300 families and that their goal for this year is to serve at least 500 families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The holiday season is upon us, and for many, that means spending time with loved ones. One local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-66891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}