Cape Coral's Aubuchon Homes is dressing up its holiday fundraiser with a Whoville twist this year, transforming the company's lot at 4707 SE 9th Place into a scene straight out of Dr. Seuss for the 28th annual Helping Hands for the Holidays. The free, public event is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23, the Monday before Thanksgiving, a timing choice organizers say has become tradition.
A Nearly Three-Decade Tradition With a New Theme
This year's Whoville theme is the headline change for 2026, according to Cape Coral Breeze, which reports the event is hosted by Aubuchon Homes, the Milo Aubuchon Group and Evaluations by Aubuchon. Attendees can expect festive decor, food and drink, live entertainment and a visit from Santa Claus, all offered at no charge at the Cape Coral address that has hosted the gathering for years, per Aubuchon Homes' own account of the event's 26-year history.
Gary Aubuchon, president of Aubuchon Homes, described the gathering as something closer to a family reunion than a corporate event. In a Cape Coral Breeze report, he said the fundraiser brings the community together to raise money for three charities and marks the unofficial start of the holiday season for many who attend.
Three Charities, One Community Goal
Proceeds benefit Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, Ronald McDonald House Charities Southwest Florida, and Lee BIA Builders Care, three organizations with personal ties to the Aubuchon team. A team member's daughter received a Make-A-Wish Foundation wish, and other team members' children needed Ronald McDonald House services during extended stays at Health Park Hospital, according to the same account. Aubuchon Homes has also been involved with Builders Care, which supports seniors needing home accessibility improvements alongside families facing hospitalized children and other life challenges.
Organizers follow a fundraising tradition borrowed, in spirit, from Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy telethon: each year's goal is simply to beat the year before by a dollar. Helping Hands raised $75,000 last year, meaning this year's target is at least $75,001, per Gary Aubuchon. He has said the community has met that goal every single year the event has run, and that the money raised stays in the local community rather than flowing to a national organization.
How the Totals Have Climbed Over the Years
The $1-more tradition has shown up in past coverage, too. A year earlier, Cape Coral Breeze reported that the 2025 event, held Nov. 24 at the same SE 9th Place address, was expected to draw 200 to 300 attendees and directly support Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, Builders Care and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida. That dispatch quoted Gary Aubuchon saying the prior year's total reached $67,500, and described a dinner and dessert station, Santa's workshop and two bar areas for beverages as part of the festivities.
Aubuchon Homes' own 2024 history page put the previous year's total at $60,000 for the three charitable organizations, while a separate accounting from Lee BIA Builders Care put a different year's total at $51,000, with $17,000 of that going directly to Builders Care. The event has deep roots in Cape Coral: a 2008 Cape Coral Breeze report already described Team Aubuchon's holiday fundraiser as its 10th annual gathering, putting its origins in the late 1990s.
How to Give
Those who can't attend in person can still contribute. Donations are accepted online through Collaboratory.org by searching Helping Hands for the Holidays, a partnership Aubuchon Homes has highlighted as the modern way to give to the fundraiser beyond showing up at the SE 9th Place address in person.
