Foundation in November 2001. Khleif serves as the foundation’s president. For more than 12 years, Khleif and the Tiny Hands Foundation, a 501-C3 charity, have focused on serving families in need all throughout the Sarasota, FL area.

After delivering huge holiday meals in gift baskets to five different underprivileged families, Rod Khleif knew that he had hit on a worthy endeavor. Seeing the smiles that his charity brought to children in need, and the tears of gratitude in their mothers’ eyes, Khleif awakened his passion for humanitarianism.

Over the past, years, the Foundation continues to sign up new clients. Through its annual Basket Brigade, the foundation seeks to help impoverished children and their families by delivering full holiday meals every Thanksgiving. More than 20,000 holiday meals have been delivered, with the assistance of a dedicated cadre of volunteers. Each of the gift baskets is delivered with both a complete holiday meal and a note reading simply, “This is from someone that loves you.” With these small gestures, Rod Khleif has been improving lives throughout his community for over a decade.

The Tiny Hands Foundation goes beyond distributing food baskets at Thanksgiving. Khleif said that although it is gratifying to see a smile on the face of a child as a result of a holiday food basket, there is a bigger picture to helping the needy. The foundation’s larger focus is on fostering awareness on core values such as emotional mastery and personal development to break the cycle of poverty.

This year’s Annual Basket Brigade on December 21, 2013 marked the 12th Annual Basket Brigade since the founding of the organization. Khleif and his colleagues have high hopes for the event this year, with their goal being to feed 1,500 impoverished children and their families throughout the Sarasota, FL area.