In these difficult economic times, pulling together to support the troops is more important than ever—as demonstrated by the employees of Share Plus Federal Bank in Plano, TX who pooled their resources to raise over 200 pounds of care package items for deployed troops!
When the bank’s Volunteer Committee chose “care packages for the troops” as their quarterly cause, Co-chair Teresa Bernstein of the mortgage department consulted her computer to find an organization that would accept the donated items. She was excited to discover the Soldiers’ Angels website, and her choice was cemented when her brother (a civilian contractor with the military in Abu Dabi) confirmed that the troops he works with love Soldiers’ Angels.
The project began with an email to Share Plus’ 75 employees, announcing that they had two weeks to bring in supplies for a Soldiers' Angels care package drive. “Everybody really got into it,” Bernstein reports, adding that the total given was bigger than had been expected. Each day people arrived with snacks and hygiene items, some giving more than once. Others provided financial donations for the Volunteer Committee members to go shopping, or to cover shipping costs. Even the local UPS got in on the action, donating boxes for shipping.
The Committee created an area to receive the donations, complete with camouflage-colored boxes. They also set out notes for people to write messages to the troops, emphasizing that words were just as important as snacks and treats. Bernstein noticed the pictures of soldiers opening care packages on the Soldiers’ Angels website and put them to use. “The photos were very inspiring,” she says, “So we printed them out and hung them around so that people can see how happy care packages make the troops.”
From the 200 pounds of supplies raised, to the joy of the participants, the project was by all accounts a great success. “Everybody loved it,” said Bernstein. “It made everybody feel really good.” In fact, the employees enjoyed it so much that there’s talk of making Sand Scarves or Cool Scarves the focus of a Volunteer Committee quarterly project in the future!
Thank you to the employees of Share Plus for your active patriotism and your enthusiastic generosity. Your gifts will likely make the soldiers who receive them feel even better than you did in giving them!
When sending the pictures used in this article, Bernstein wrote, "Sometimes as we go about our daily routines we forget that there are men and women fighting a war for our freedom. It's good to be reminded in this small way, and help in whatever way we can."
0 comments:
Post a Comment