Blog Updates

Santa’s helpers (Ron D’andrea, Kevin Conklin, Wade Puckett, Stacy Kopald, Lisa Slen, Diane Frate and Sabina Walters) from the Darien CVI Team spent the morning of December 12^th helping to create the Person-to-Person ‘pop-up’ Toy Store.   This is a festive event where volunteers come together and transform their church center into a Christmas Toy Store.  The Toy Store is open for three days in December, serves more than 1600 children and their families in Stamford, Darien and New Canaan, Connecticut.

Ron, Kevin and Wade sent up panels, moved boxes of toys from the attic to the center.  Sabina, Stacy, Lisa and Diane set up/moved tables, organized books, worked in the board game area arranging tables by age groups.

By appointment, Person-to-Person’s clients have 15 minutes to shop for their children’s holiday gifts, as well as, a new book for each child and a board game for the family to enjoy together. All gifts are wrapped by volunteers.

Everyone leaves in the holiday spirit and smiles on their faces.

[Written by Diane Frate, Darien CVI Office]

[Above is Kathryn with her husband as Grand Marshalls in the parade..]

At the acquisition kick off meeting in Seattle, November 2013, Joe Terry, Corporate Visions CEO, provided Executive Communications with the company’s $100 challenge.  Kathryn  Sikorski, Director of Product Design at CVI, sits on the Board of Directors for her local organization – the Corrales Horse and Mule People [ www.champnm.com] quickly took on the $100 challenge at her local parade in New Mexico.

Each year this organization puts on the Christmas de Caballos Parade which is an equine event benefitting the US Marine Corps, Toys for Tots campaign.  Kathryn took the $100 challenge and purchased toys and placed them in Santa’s wagon.

[Santa’s wagon… holding Toys for Tots…]

Here are pictures of the toys Kathryn purchased for the $100 challenge …

What a delightful way to offer gifts to the children including a grand parade! Thank you, Kathryn, for sharing your unique $100 challenge!

[Photos and story by Kathryn Sikorski]

 

 

 

 

 

[Front row: Julie, Tyler(lying down), Korey. Back row left to right: Stu, Nathan, Savannah, Jaime and Joe.]

On November 1st, we arranged a work day to volunteer for our Pleasanton office team. Since Jaime Farrar had recently left our little group to live in Truckee, we included her to join in and she happily trudged all the way from Truckee to volunteer with us. We worked the entire day from 8:30 am-4:00 pm, and snuck in a 45 minute lunch break.

[Jaime Farrar at work]

Nathan Parrott describes – we prepped for painting, hung doors, dug fence post holes, did a little finish carpentry, major re-organization and general site clean-up.

The volunteer work was done at the Brookfield Development (9507 Edes Avenue, Oakland 94603), which was the site Jimmy Carter had been to three weeks before. The week before, the site was robbed and a Habitat employee was shot which was not life threatening, however, that did not stop us.
They say… “No experience necessary!” Though some helped… Our work clothes were fashionable and sturdy as instructed, close-toed shoes added to the safety measures and our matching shirts finished the look. They supplied us with tools and safety equipment though some came really, really prepared, sporting their own SHINEY NEW WHITE hard hats… by Julie Dean-Lawrence

Dustin Ring and his girlfriend, Erin Alpers,  along with two of their friends got together and cooked meals for seven families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Reno, Nevada.

It was such a great experience. The Ronald McDonald House allows families to access specialized medical treatment by providing a place to stay at little or sometimes no cost. Many of the families traveled far from their home and have spent several weeks or months to get treatment for their seriously ill or injured children. They usually do not have much time to go out and eat; let alone cook a meal, so the home cooked meals we prepared for them was a very welcome addition to their day. We will definitely be doing this more often. [See Dustin with his new buddy!]

More info on the charity can be found at: http://www.rmhc.org/ronald-mcdonald-house [by Dustin Ring]

[Jeannie, Sarah and Jessie]

Thanks Joe for letting Jessie Behm and I [Sarah McMahan] snag the tickets for the Chocolate and Wine event benefiting Tahoe Safe Alliance and Project Mana. Jeannie Frantz jumped in too and we had a blast!

It was difficult hearing the stories from victims of domestic violence, people that I see every day. Tahoe Safe Alliance is the angel that children and adults need to escape the violence. I plan to continue to support both in the future. [by Sarah McMahan]

[Del Medina Jr. IT Manager, Charlotte, Marion Boyd, County Deputy Director]

On October 24th, 25 members of the Ukulele Friends Ohana [family] were invited to perform at the 5th anniversary celebration of this beautiful Marin Health and Wellness Campus located in San Rafael, California. Our 2 hour performance included mostly Hawaiian songs mixed with folk,light rock, and interspersed with several Hula numbers.

This innovative Marin Health and Wellness Campus brings together a spectrum of services and clinics together in one beautiful campus. It is a result of local individuals, organizations, businesses, and government pulling together in the spirit of cooperation and neighborhood revitalization.
This campus was formerly occupied by Industrial Light and Sound [George Lucas’s company]. The renovation involved the re-design of approximately 74,000 square feet with five buildings using the principles of sustainability and ecological health.
This Marin County Department is proud to be a partner in this amazing effort to help strengthen health, well-being, and wellness throughout the county.
[by Charlotte Kobayashi]

[Francisco, Yesenia and Dave, Gabe is photographer]

This was the second go-around at Stone Soup Kitchen led by Gabriel Barkin who recruited Dave Picardi, Francisco and Yesenia Ramirez, the Team from Larkspur, California office.

On November 6th, we made roast chicken, sautéed kale with mushrooms and garlic, and a crumble-crusted squash roast. Plus, cowboy cookies! The food will be served to 60 homeless people at the Mill Street shelter in San Rafael, California on November 7th. Thank you to Gabe, Dave, Francisco, and Yesenia! Awesome cooks!
[by Gabriel Barkin]

The weather was perfect for the annual Jog-a-thon to raise money for the PE program at Incline Elementary School. Each grade had 30 minutes to run as many laps as they could with prizes for the top boys and girls who ran the most. It’s hard to believe that some schools don’t offer PE programs any more as exercise is so important. We are especially grateful for Mr. Smith, the PE teacher at Incline Elementary who organizes running clubs, climbing clubs, etc. before and after school for extra physical activity.

And a little bragging for our son Noah who has set the record for the most laps for boys in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and now 2nd grade! He ran almost 4 miles in 30 minutes and didn’t seem tired at all.

 

Thanks to Corporate Visions for the matching donation which pays the salary for Mr. Smith and keeps our kids active!