CORPORATE DONATES TO FOSTER KIDS
A Guest blog from Lisa Sorce in our HR department.
I am so proud to work at Garden Fresh. It’s such a great company made up of great people who really care about their community. This is the second year in a row that the employees of the Garden Fresh corporate office have participated in sponsoring the foster care children in Riverside County. Last year we sponsored 22 children and this year we doubled that number!
There are so many children that don’t have a home or a family to call their own. Some of these children have not had as much as a stocking with their name written on it or anything that they can really call their own. These children are shuttled back and forth between group and foster homes. This is where my amazing peers came into play! We were given a list of children that needed to know they were cared and thought of this Christmas. Some of the children on the list had specific needs and/or requests but most of the children just wanted to be a thought in someone’s heart.
The employees, their families and friends here at Garden Fresh ended up sponsoring 45 children. And when I say sponsor – I don’t mean they went to the store and bought them a toy and put their name on it. These 45 children are going to have the best Christmas they ever experienced. These children all received multiple gifts of love.
Each child received some sort of bag (back-pack, suitcase or duffel bag) and our employees filled them with necessities like warm blankets, pillows, jackets, clothes, shoes, toiletries and fun items that were picked up with each child in mind. As I collected the bags from employees, I was astounded at the thoughtfulness and care that went into making each child’s Christmas special. There were skateboards, tea sets, handmade quilts, footballs and make-up. There were books, journals, dolls, stuffed animals, Legos, games and gift cards a plenty.
In an economy like today, where everyone is struggling to make ends meet – it is such a blessing to know that my peers were able to reach into their hearts, homes and their pocketbooks to spread a little of what they had with someone less fortunate. Thank you to each and every one of you who made this a very special Christmas indeed.
