Henry's Heroes

Henry’s Heroes Helps the Littlest of Iowans

Henry’s Heroes was inspired by Henry Johnson, Jeff and Deb Hansen’s grandchild and the son of Natalie and Jake Johnson. Natalie had the vision for Henry’s Heroes after she and Jake organized a donation of Henry’s baby shower items to be gifted to Blank Children’s Hospital.

After Henry was born, they founded the program to help provide basic children’s necessities not covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women, Infant and Children (WIC) or other governmental support programs. Common items include bottles, diapers, children’s medicine, shampoo, body wash, lotion and other hygiene products.

In 2019, Henry’s Heroes was added to the Deb and Jeff Hansen Foundation’s roster of programs that help communities across Iowa. Through the program, children’s personal care items will be strategically distributed to communities via other Foundation programs, including Haul Out Hunger, Operation Christmas Meal and Little Free Pantry.

Throughout the years, Henry’s Heroes has adapted as an ever-changing program to fit the needs of Iowan’s across the state.

In 2021, Henry’s Heroes went to the police stations with Law Enforcement Comfort Kits. These kits were to be used in case of an emergency, to comfort children in a time of distress. Henry’s Heroes Law Enforcement Comfort Kits included blankets, toys, pacifiers, lip balm, and stuffed animals.

In 2022, Little Farmer’s Toybox’s came to life through Henry’s Heroes. Focused in assisting daycares that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This uplifting toybox included many agricultural based toys that are durable and fit for a wide variety of ages. Many employees were able to nominate the daycare that helped them continue to be essential personnel during the pandemic.

In 2023, the project adapted to fit the need for small town libraries to explore their STEM curriculum. 50 STEM carts were delivered to Homegrown Iowa communities, including a large variety of toys and games to help children develop their skills in science, technology, engineering, and math.

In 2024, Henry’s mission was to provide Dream Kits to Iowan children who face unstable housing and harsh living conditions. With this in mind, the Dream Kits became the perfect bag of essentials for crisis centers, shelters, and intervention specialist organizations. The kits included everything from a quilt, pillow, pig stuffed animal, basic hygiene items, a coloring kit, all in a wheeled tote bag for easy carrying. Delivered to 64 counties across the state of Iowa, 500 Dream Kits were able to help children in need.

This year, Henry goes to kindergarten! To celebrate, the idea of Bilingual Book Carts for elementary school libraries came to life. Each cart contains 75 books, half in English and half in Spanish split for grades K-2 and 3-6. This spring, Bilingual Book Carts will be delivered to 100 elementary schools in our Homegrown Iowa communities.

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