FamilyWorks is a food bank and family resource center that serves the hungry in North Seattle. FamilyWorks opens the food bank three times a week and Conrad Smith is fortunate to be able to help out on the line from time to time.
“This is where I go to get grounded in humility and humanity. I make it a priority to spend a couple of hours there when I am in town.”
[By Conrad Smith]
The Darien, Connecticut Corporate Visions Team of Diane Frate and Lisa Slen had the opportunity to assist Person-2-Person with their “Be a Santa” program on March 10th, 2016.
This program provides Person-2-Person with new household items and clothing. An inventory of these items is kept year round so they are able to help families moving from shelters into apartments.
“Be a Santa” goods also are handy in times of crisis such as a house fire when a family is forced to start over again.
The goods are donated by employees of large local corporations. This program works along the same line as The Salvation Army with their Angel Tree donations, only this is year round. Employees select tags and shop throughout the year for the suggested goods, then are collected and brought to Person-2-Person to distribute.
The first part of the morning was sorting through baskets filled with new children’s pajamas. They were sized and sorted by gender. From there it was on to the attic where new kitchen items were reorganized, condensed, and placed into new clothing bins.
Also, on this particular day, Diane and Lisa were asked to assist in choosing clothing for a Syrian refugee family that arrived in the United States the previous day with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The family consisted of a widowed mother and five children ranging in age from three to twelve. They were temporarily housed in a convent in Wilton, Connecticut.
The following morning, the family along with an interpreter, were transported to Person-2-Person where the Staff presented them with clothing and household items. Then the biggest surprise of all was when they introduced them to their new home in Stamford, Connecticut.
This was an amazing, wonderful, and rewarding experience/feeling to “leave a mark” on the lives of this young family.
{written by Diane Frate}
Corporate Visions’ Vice President of Technology, Dustin Ring and his girlfriend, Erin Alpers, volunteered at NNCCF’s (Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation) annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser on March 18, 2016.
St. Baldrick’s head-shaving events began as a challenge between businessmen and has grown from one event, which began in 2000, to over 1,300 events in 2013. These events raise critical funds for childhood cancer research. Northern Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation, helps families focus on getting their children better because the fight against cancer is not an easy task. The organization gives assistance for medical co-pays, mortgage or rent, travel expenses for treatment, household utilities, and so much more to allow families to focus on what matters most, which is, getting their children to become healthy.
The event in Reno, Nevada raised more money than ever…over $250,000 and still counting! That’s $50,000 above the goal!!! This was the biggest year ever and we are so excited to be able to help support children’s cancer research through such a fun event!
*Anyone can be a part of this great cause by clicking on the links below.
For more information on St. Baldricks: http://www.stbaldricks.org/head-shaving/
For more information on NNCCF: https://nvchildrenscancer.org/
On March 9th, three of us from Larkspur Office, [back row left to right] Teresa Kwan, Geoff Kinnaird, and Charlotte Kobayashi, visited the ten 4th graders at Bahia Elementary School in San Rafael, California . These 4th graders received bicycles, helmets and locks, through collaborative efforts of San Rafael Elks Lodge 1108 and Corporate Visions, Inc. We wanted to receive feedback from the students as to what changed since they received the bicycles in November of 2015. Here are some of the comments from 5 of the students:
Pascual– “I did not have a bicycle before. Now I can ride to the bay trail behind the school and spend more time with my family. We ride bikes as my parents walk along the trail.”
Samuel– “I am now more inspired to enter more contests as I like the challenge and have fun doing it.” See video link for his comments: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3gbw9lfgwmy4ah1/AAC9OcWx_riE9R1TdJqVbnPHa?dl=0&preview=2016-03-09+20.55.31.mp4
Edilson– “I entered to replace my old bike and now I am more inspired to enter more contests.”
Angie– “I have a dream to become a professional bicyclist but I was not able to do the trick like the professionals so I now practice 10 minutes a day and hopefully I will be able to do more tricks in the future.” To see video of Angie’s feedback, click on this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3gbw9lfgwmy4ah1/AAC9OcWx_riE9R1TdJqVbnPHa?dl=0&preview=2016-03-09+20.57.34.mp4
Diego- “Because my bicycle was stolen, I entered the essay contest to win a new bike. Now I am able to do more stuff with my Dad like I used to before my bike was stolen.”
Here is what the staff have to stay about the noticeable changes: [to be completed]
On April 22nd, the 15 additional bicycles, helmets and locks will be offered to the remaining 15 students who turned in their essays but not selected the first go around.
They will be surprised when they will each receive their bicycles, helmets and locks at the assembly in April. Stay tuned for another report on the reaction of the 15 additional students.
[Back row left to right: Joe Elquez, Kevin Young, Joe Terry, Mike A. Miller, Tyler McDonald, Scott Parks. Seated left to right: Randi Newbould and Jaime Farrar]
The Pleasanton Corporate Visions’ teams had two great opportunities to take a little time out on March 9th and 15th to help package food for Kids Against Hunger. Kids Against Hunger was started to help feed children affected by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. They now service many areas of the world to feed starving children by providing them with a nutritious packaged meal.
Jaime Farrar, CVI Project Manager, did a fantastic job in coordinating two groups of P-Town employees to volunteer for both days.
Kids Against Hunger is a unique organization in that they do not send canned or nonperishable goods – they have actually created a recipe for a packaged meal that consists of a mixture of rice, soy, vitamins, and vegetables (think REALLY nutritious Rice-a-Roni tasting stuff) and can provide 6 meal servings for only $0.20 a serving. [See photo below] For more information, please go to KAH website: http://kidsagainsthungerpleasanton.org/.
And… the second shift…on March 15, 2016 {Photo below from left to right: Back row- Kevin Young, Peggy Budnick, Jordan Atkinson, Dominic Marquis, Tatyana Bondarenko. Front left with sign: Nina Litvinchuk, Savannah Kimball- behind, Shelley Walker-front with sign on right, Kelly Wong, Terri Yurkovich, Diane DiSalvo and Kevin Guthrie]
Crew at work…[Photo below from left to right: Kelly, Peggy, Nina, Diane, Savannah, Dominic, Terri, Kevin G., Shelley, Jordan, Kevin Y. and Tatyana]
Two CVI Volunteer Teams – one from March 9th team that packaged of 1,944 meals and March 15th team of 3,024 meals, will feed a total of 4,968 hungry kids! Quite amazing!
Kathryn Sikorski took a volunteer day on Feb 19, 2016 to work on tree planting at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. They planted over 700 trees and set another 500 for planting. These trees are making a new wetland habitat area along the Rio Grande river in New Mexico.
Kathryn Sikorski of Albuquerque, New Mexico, recently volunteered at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge on a wolf capture.They have a breeding program for the Mexican Grey Wolf which is an endangered species. In photo you see the volunteer team capturing one male wolf to be relocated away from some breeding pairs and one male wolf to be relocated to the Ladder Ranch wolf program to be paired with a mate and then released in Mexico.
Attached are some pictures, unfortunately it is difficult to get good wolf photos when you are working on the capture; not able to snap and do the job at the same time.
http://tesf.org/prj-mw.html
http://mexicanwolfeis.org/process/reestablish/
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/sevilleta/
[By Kathryn Sikorski]
Fabiana DeGenova, Leela Newman, and Pete Fulford of Portland, Oregon joined Store To Door volunteers on March 2nd, 2016 to grocery shop for 93 homebound seniors and people with disabilities and provide them with the groceries, prescription medications, and household items they need.
Store to Door is a local nonprofit that supports independent living for Portland-area seniors and people with disabilities by providing a low-cost, volunteer-based order taking, grocery shopping, and delivery service. Each year, more than 10,000 volunteer hours help Store to Door fill and deliver over 7,000 orders to 500+ clients. Store to Door was founded in 1989 when a handful of people living in low-income senior housing, too frail to shop on their own, requested assistance from the community. Besides providing direct service, Store to Door volunteers interact personally with clients. The agency is in the unique position of having weekly phone contact and visits to the homes of people who often live isolated lives, providing them with much-needed service and support.
[By Leela Newman]
Melissa Hereford and her son Simon, volunteered at Vallecito Elementary School, October of 2015.
Photo includes, left to right, Melissa Hereford; Youth Coordinator, Rabbi Lara; and fellow volunteer, Marlene Saritzky.
[By Melissa Hereford]
[Photo above: Lisa Slen at Toy Store]
On December 9th, for the 20th year, Person-to-Person staged the Holiday Toy Store in Darien, Connecticut. With the support of dedicated volunteer organizing committee, scores of volunteers and countless generous donors, more than 2,100 children from 947 families were able to benefit from this year’s program to enjoy a holiday that was merry and bright.
Lisa Slen and Diane Frate have participated in this event for 4 consecutive years. Diane, “It was truly amazing watching the Community Center transform into a beautiful toy store before our very eyes.” A decorated Christmas/Holiday tree was surrounded with stuff animals donated from the Darien High School football team’s previous night’s game. Colorful garland, holly, streamers adorned the walls, along with a gigantic, lit snowman.
Toy Store is one of the most fulfilling, enjoyable and engaging programs at P2P for clients, staff, and volunteers. This program is for clients who struggle throughout the year to provide basic necessities such as food and clothing for their children. It is through the Toy Store project, however, that parents have the freedom to select a free toy and book for each of their children plus, a board game for the family to enjoy.
[More toys!]
This was a very festive event where people from companies such as FactSet, Firefly Millward Brown, First County Bank, GE, IRI, National Charity League, Opus for P2P, P2P Board of Directors, Rain CII, Security Specialists, Starwood Capital, Thomson Reuters, Tauck Tours, US Chemicals, US Computer and Wilton Woman’s Club; plus State Senator Bob Duff, State Representative Chris Perone, Stamford Mayor David Martin, and Darien First Selectman Jayme Stevenson, come together to lend a helping hand. [By Diane Frate]
