Blog Updates

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]

To celebrate the arrival of the holidays, Diane Frate and Lisa Slen, from Darien, Connecticut, volunteered at two events for Person2Person — Thanksgiving’s Food Sorting and Christmas’ Toy Store.

Thanksgiving Food Sorting on November 20th: For this event, Lisa and Diane sorted (with the help of other volunteers) through 7000 pounds of food. This was to replenish Person2Persons’ food pantry for their client’s Thanksgiving meal.

Trucks arrived packed with bags of food donated from Kings School’s families in Greenwich, Connecticut. Enthusiastic volunteers unloaded the trucks, bags were emptied onto tables where expiration dates were verified. Volunteers worked diligently sorting the food into labeled bins.
Soon we had a production line in place where the process flowed extremely quickly. We believe the afternoon shift was relieved from their duties as all food items were in place by the end of the morning shift.
[By Diane Frate]

[Photo above: Pleasanton Office Team!] Once again, Corporate Visions’ employees made a huge contribution to the gift giving to the Salvation Army for the Angel Tree Project.
Congratulations to all who took part in your generous gift offerings for a total of $1671 from five U.S. cities: Doylestown, Pleasanton, Larkspur, Incline and Darien. CVI contributed to making 80 children in these 5 cities receive at least one gift for Christmas in 2015.

Much gratitude to all who took part in 2015 Angel Tree Gift Giving.

Cheers!
Charlotte

[Larkspur Team below]

[Doylestown Team below]

[Another Pleasanton Team photo]

[Darien- Gift Card Giving to Town Hall]

On December 19, 2015, Fu Hong Society organized a Christmas lunch buffet for a group on intellectually challenged students. After the luncheon, they took a walk along one of the longest harbor front in Hong Kong. Roxanna Yuen, from Corporate Visions Hong Kong Office, took care of two students during lunch and for the walk along the harbor. This walkway is a quiet haven within the busy city with a great view of Hong Kong and the harbor. Students were taught to perform caroling, which they did along this beautiful waterfront promenade. People stopped by to listen and praised them for their wonderful performance.

*Fu Hong Society is a non-profit making organization serving people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities or those with autism.

“Love is found in the simple moments, extend your love to those in need.”
[By Roxanna Yuen]

The Central Bucks Family YMCA in Doylestown, PA, hosted another successful holiday food drive on November 21, 2015. Members of the YMCA had the opportunity to select an anonymous family from the Thanksgiving wreath to purchase a complete Thanksgiving meal. The families enrolled in the program are beneficiaries of the YMCA’s financial assistance program. The program has become a popular way for families and community groups to give back to those who need a helping hand this season. Cassie Galster from the Doylestown office and her husband Dillon participated in the drive again this year. “It’s fun to pick out items for a whole meal and know you are giving a family everything they need to have a holiday meal together.”
Cassie also teaches yoga at the YMCA and knows that this meal could be received by one of her students or another member she sees and interacts with at the Y.

This year’s family meal included a frozen turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, rolls, cranberry sauce, a pumpkin pie, spices and cooking supplies for the meal and a bottle of sparkling cider. The cost of the groceries was matched by CVI with an additional monetary donation to the CBFYMCA.
[By Cassie Galster]

On October 12, 2015, Roxanna Yuen from our Hong Kong office, joined in an activity organized by the Fu Hong Society. Fu Hong Society is a non-profit organization serving people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and individuals with autism.

About 50 people with intellectual disabilities, 50 volunteers and instructors, joined the Eco-tourism of New Life Farm (a place to provide training and employment opportunities for people in recovery of mental illness). People in recovery of mental illness are trained as tour guides to introduce the farm. Fun handicraft workshops were scheduled for all of us to learn how to make photo albums with leaf prints and fans.

Each of us in the group had one intellectual disability student assigned to us. Roxanna took care of her student by escorting her on a walk, eating lunch, taking part in handicraft workshops, and assisting with personal hygiene. It was especially enjoyable taking part in the handicraft workshops. This student was able to do simple tasks when given specific instructions.

“This activity reminded me of how lucky we are and we should treasure what we have. I encourage everyone to help those intellectual disabilities people. They need our love.”
[By Roxanna Yuen]

[Photo above: Left to right: Susan Supernavage and Mary Pacell. Tim Brooks on far right.]

On October 14^th, four employees from the Doylestown CVI office volunteered their time to help Doylestown Borough clean up and remodel one of its parks.

Historical Society Park is within walking distance of the Doylestown office. The park had a reflecting pond but the borough had plans to fill the pond and create a rain garden in its place. In addition to the rain garden, other flowers and plants were brought in to add color and fill the landscape.

[Photo below: Garden before shots]

[After shots below:]

The morning started with unloading plants from the truck and laying out the garden. Tim Brooks put his muscles to good use by helping dig most of the large holes for the hydrangea, rhododendron and viburnum. The ground was filled with roots and ivy, but Tim made the work look easy. Mary Pacell, Susan Supernavage and Cassie Galster went to work on the rain garden planting iris, sweet spire, switch grass and winterberry. Rocks were placed around the edges for the rain water to drain properly. Susan and Mary came up with a perfect arrangement for the bee balm and Kim’s knee high coneflowers along the park gate which made the whole space look beautiful. After lunch, Susan and Cassie planted the last few plants and meticulously trimmed and deadheaded anything they could get their hands on. People passing by even commented that the park never looked better. Susan said, “This park is a hidden jewel in the borough! I am grateful to Cassie and CVI for giving me the opportunity give back to the community while also doing something that I love!” The group looks forward to visiting the park in the spring for lunch breaks to enjoy the fruits of their labor.   [By Cassie Galster]