Charities

So with the economy and the current state of the country many people have had a hit to their pockets. Even the company I work for has had to make some tough decisions in as far as reduction in employees and reduction in hours for our existing employees. Even with that people still find it in their hearts to reach out to others that are in need. Perhaps it is because they feel the economic pinch themselves that they still do for others.

Whatever the reason is, my fellow co-workers never cease to amaze me. We have had several fundraising programs this year.

We did a joint venture (as we do every year) with our customer Ace Hardware. We help raise money for their charity drive to help benefit Children's Miracle Network. Through a combination of bake sales, printing of a cook book for employees to purchase as a donation, a 'Biggest Loser' Contest, straight dollar donations and riding in their Ace Tour De Kids event we raised almost $29,000. Incredible!

Jonathan, Mike, Matt and John made up our group of riders for Team Madden. Hat's off to them for making this very long ride. Tons of people helped make this possible but Matt spent a lot of time and energy in coordinating all of the different streams of donations and a special thanks should go to him for doing so. First class job Matt!

Much of our drive was based on helping the CMN's work that was brought on by one of our employees daughters battle with cancer. Macy is a beautiful little girl with the will of a giant! She has fought long and hard in her battle. She is and will always be a winner. Her mom Michelle has a will cast out of steel. I see where Macy gets it from. Michelle has a site that she updates quite regularly on Macy's progress. Go there and check it out. I must warn you though it's going to tear at your heart strings. That's not to say you shouldn't read it. You should, just be ready. Quite frankly if it doesn't tear you up a bit you might want to take a look inside yourself. Something might have died inside you.

But not only did we do all that great work for that great charity one of my co-workers started a one man campaign to help get shoes to children in Columbia.

Right, a long stretch from Chicago, Illinois, USA I know. He fell in love with the country and the people after going on several vacations there. After seeing the conditions some children live under he decided to do something about it. One flyer (I helped make it :) ) and he spread the word to everyone he could. His drive created an outpouring from our other employees that was quite impressive. Our one man philanthropist, Bobby, collected some where in the neighborhood of 250 pairs of shoes. Here's pictures of him and about 125 pairs. He ended up taking I believe 4 or 5 suitcases FULL at about 50lbs each. He still had more that he was not able to take. He just left to go during the Thanksgiving Day holiday and plans to make a trip back there sometime in February. Impressive job for one man.

Just recently we kicked off our annual 'Letters From Santa' drive. This great program is run by Direct Effect Charities. They run several program, this one sends out letters that kids from public schools in lower income neighborhoods of Chicago have written in hopes of getting a present. Truly for some of these kids the gifts they get from this program might be the only ones they get that year. This program has been going on for years at our company and back a few years ago (I forget now how many) three of us took over the annual drive when there was a chance it might end due to the at the time coordinator moving into a much more demanding position. Gail, Christine (two of the girls at my work) and myself took up the mantle. Boy did we have a lot to learn, but we did and we continue doing it to this day.

Christine has since moved on to help her husband with his business so it has mostly come down to Gail and myself. Both of have moved on to more demanding positions at our job but we still coordinate this effort as it is really a worthy cause. Truth be told though Gail does most of the work now and she deserves the real credit for making this happen. That's not to say people don't help. They absolutely do. From the guys who help pick up packages from our other locations, to the guys who help sort them and get them ready to ship it seems like most people get involved. As far as that goes we received 341 letters from one school and the gift value is in the $25 range. That's over $8500 in gifts. It's quite a site to see that many gifts wrapped and waiting for someone to open them!

As a matter of fact 2 years ago I was able to attend the Christmas party for the school we got presents for as...........Santa! It was pretty awesome. The kids are just as kids should be. When they come into a room filled with presents their eyes pop open wide and they run like maniacs! And as I found out that running usually turns out to be right at Santa! First graders may be small but when 30-40 of them fling themselves at you at full speed it still takes a bit to keep yourself standing up. And it was still awesome!

Like I said before there are some great people working at this company and I'm very glad I've had a chance to get to know them.

Remember someone can always use some help.