Team: Barrett & Dean

Our mission to help ensure that as many kids as possible across our community enjoy the joy of opening a new toy on Christmas ended when we dropped off a large stash of toys at the Toys for Tots collection location at WFTV-9.

According to WFTV, “tens of thousands” of toys were dropped off at the station as part of their annual Toys for Tots drive.

Indeed, when we went to drop off our toys, we were impressed by the large pile of toys under the tree. In fact, after we arrived, another company arrived with additional armfuls of toys to place under the tree.

It is expected that more than 22,000 kids will receive toys from the Orlando area Toys for Tots drive this year.

We are glad to have been able to do our small part to make Christmas a little brighter for kids and thank everyone else who made an effort to help ensure a good Christmas memory for kids across our region.

by Roger Pynn

My daily indulgence – a steaming cup of my favorite Panera Bread coffee – became extra special today when I got to share breakfast with someone I “met” last night.

He lives out of a gym bag. Last night I saw him sleeping on a bench as I left the Winn-Dixie that abuts our gated community and thought “how did he get here … to a neighborhood of fortunate families so far from what we think of as where ‘they’ gather?” I thought about him most of the night, and then there he was standing aimlessly outside Panera … gym bag in hand, blanket over his shoulders, staring nowhere.

One of my favorite counter girls at Panera greeted me with a “Merry Christmas,” but was surprised when I asked her to prepare a breakfast sandwich “all the way” and sell me a large cup of coffee to go in addition to my daily refill. “It’s for the homeless fellow out there.”

When it was ready, she said “no charge for the coffee. God bless you.”

We both gave ourselves this morning. He whispered “thank you. Merry Christmas,” when I told him there was a bit of cash inside the bag so “don’t throw it away after breakfast.”

You can Give Yourself so many ways. Please, keep giving.

Team: Roger & Dionne

Giving yourself is not only fun and rewarding (on a variety of levels but certainly emotionally and spiritually) … it is contagious. Our Give Yourself program has resulted in two generous gestures that connected us with clients and friends.

The wonderful folks at Nickelodeon Family Suites Resortread about what we are doing and called to say they would like to donate 300 SpongeBob/Nick Hotel lunch boxes if we could find one of the charities we are working with that could use them.

Marketing Coordinator Laura Nipe loaded box loads of the colorful lunch boxes in her truck on a busy Friday afternoon and braved rush hour traffic to bring them to our office and the next day we had 120 of them in the hands of our friends at B.A.S.E. Camp, an organization that helps children with cancer and their families. On Sunday, every child who attended B.A.S.E. Camp’s annual Christmas Party received a lunch box in addition to many other toys and gifts made possible by the charity and its many donors.

Thanks to Laura and Nick Hotel V.P. Jim Olson for catching the spirit of Give Yourself. You made those kids very happy … but there’s more. Two days later Dionne Aiken and I joined B.A.S.E. Camp Program Coordinator and Parent Cindy Whitaker at Florida Hospital in the Disney Children’s Cancer Center for B.A.S.E. Camp’s weekly pizza delivery and as we passed out pepperoni, sausage, cheese, barbecue and Hawaiian pies we made sure the patients and their siblings also got a shiny new SpongeBob lunch box. What a treat!

In between all this, however, came a call from longtime friend and local marketing guru Richard Jackson, saying “listen, I’ve got some time during the holidays and I’m looking for some local charities where I could maybe lend some time and do some good.”

Always a community volunteer at heart, it took Richard no time at all when I told him about our pizza delivery plans to ask “hey, can I join you?” Father of beautiful nearly grown kids himself, I could see the joy on Richard’s face as we interacted with some kids who have every reason I can think of not to be in the Christmas spirit but who, instead, brought big smiles to all of us as we shared pizza and lunch boxes.

If you haven’t had time yet, there’s no seasonal limit on Giving Yourself. You can do it all year long. Go Give Yourself! And, Merry Christmas.

Team: Dan & Connie

I hugged my girls a little tighter than normal when I got home last night.

It’s a normal reaction when you’ve spent time with children at the Crisis Nursery … when little kids run up to you begging to be picked up and held … when a 7-year-old, on Dec. 22, asks you, “When is Christmas?” … when you watch a 4-year-old for whom violence should be a mystery lash out at any child smaller than him … when you see twin girls who both are unable to tell you why the tears won’t stop flowing.

This time of year we are reminded of the famous New York Sun editorial piece, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” Would Francis Pharcellus Church’s answer be any different for these children, who will spend Christmas morning in a group home away from their families while a million “Virginia’s” around the world run to their Christmas trees to see what gifts Santa has in store for them?

If Church spent any time with the young boy who, for sake of confidentiality, I’ll call Little Man, the answer would most assuredly be yes. Little Man didn’t speak for over an hour, avoiding eye contact and whimpering. But a push on the swing brought out a beautiful smile, and a giggle that melts the heart.

Yes, Little Man, there is a Santa Claus. As Church famously wrote, “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”

That love and generosity and devotion exists in the hearts of the dedicated case managers who work long hours for little pay to keep you safe and give you some semblance of normalcy.

Santa doesn’t always appear as a jolly old elf for kids like Little Man. Sometimes he’s a child from a nearby school who donates hand-made ornaments to decorate a tree, sometimes he’s a mother from Queens who helps him tie his shoes, and sometimes he’s a stranger who gives him a push on the swing.

Team: Roger & Dionne

All these years in public relations and now I’m realizing I made the wrong career choice.

Unfortunately, however, there was no degree offered when I went to college that would have prepared me for the very best job in the world: being one of Santa’s helpers.

If you don’t believe me – no matter whether you are a brain surgeon, candle stick maker, baker or banker – just join us and Give Yourself as my teammate Dionne Aiken and I did the other day in delivering gifts to B.A.S.E. Camp. Dionne has already written here about how much fun it was to shop – and we captured some of that spree on video as we shopped for gifts for the family we “adopted” through this incredible charitable cause.

But just as touching and rewarding was meeting with Executive Director Jackie Ellis and one of B.A.S.E. Camp’s delightful volunteers Joyce Lowe who were excitedly stockpiling gifts for the many families with children suffering from severe blood disorders and undergoing treatment for cancer.

In every nook and cranny of their cramped Winter Park offices were groups of packages labeled for one family or another who were to come together Dec. 21 for an annual Christmas Party for the kids. Moms and Dads will be spirited out of the party for a few minutes to pick up the gifts that had been purchased based on their children’s wish lists and then they’ll be off to wrap these presents on behalf of Santa.

But there’s sad news. There are still many, many families to be adopted. And even though there are only a couple of weeks left before the big day, there’s still time to contact B.A.S.E. Camp at (407) 673-5060 and either volunteer to go shopping or to give them a cash donation and they’ll do your elf work for you.

Please … GiveYourself!

Team: Dan & Connie

When you walk into Suite 1321 at 1375 S. Semoran Blvd., you see what looks like any professional office environment. But instead of workers manning the phones, the cubicles are filled with toys, treats, games and clothing for children in need.

This is the “Holiday Suite” for Children’s Home Society of Florida, where people and organizations throughout the community provide gifts for children who, through neglect, abuse or abandonment, must spend the holidays outside of a traditional, loving family environment.

When Connie and I arrived to deliver our toys, the first thing we noticed was a line of 30 bicycles, still in the box, which one anonymous company donated. We also noticed a smiling young woman named Shelly, who has worked for Children’s Home Society for the last seven years and loves this part of her job.

Dan, Connie and Shelly in the “Holiday Suite” at Children’s Home Society of Florida.

If you have new, unwrapped toys you’d like to donate, this is a very deserving organization. Call (407) 701-7071 for more information and hours.

Team: Ashley & Kerry

Deciding to help out the House of Hope Orlando was an easy choice for me. I had the privilege of attending the organization’s “Hope Awards Dinner” last February at which they presented awards to their dedicated supporters. But more importantly, those in attendance got to hear each of the teens’ personal testimonies, stories of hurt and pain that became healed through the faith and love that the House of Hope provides. They were such an inspiration for me that our holiday project seemed like the perfect opportunity to help.

With our shopping out of the way, Ashley and I were both excited to drop off all of the items that we had bought for the teens that stayed there.

Driving onto the campus, we were both a little confused to see that some buildings were reserved for the national offices. We came to learn that the Orlando-based center has had such success in transforming teens’ and families’ lives that it became the model for other House of Hope organizations across the country.

We were met by a friendly staff member, Brenda, who helped us unload and told us a little bit more about the teens’ everyday experiences at House of Hope and what they have planned for Christmas.

A staff member since 1987, Brenda is such a great example of what can be accomplished through giving yourself. In her 21 years at House of Hope, she has seen brokenness and suffering be repaired with encouragement, love and hope.

Team: Barrett and Dean

There are a lot of “unsung heroes” in Orlando who most of us will never know about.  We had the chance to meet one of them recently during a visit to the Second Harvest Food Bank Warehouse.

“Mr. Bill”– as the nameplate on his desk reads – is a gentleman who is “old enough to retire,” but who instead spends his days organizing the large volume of food and product donations that come into the warehouse.

With impressive organization and efficiency, Mr. Bill coordinates all donations while also supervising both the regular employees and his daily volunteers.  According to Mr. Bill, the age and number of volunteers can vary from day to day, but he is always appreciative of the assistance and ready to train a new crop of recruits.

On the day of our visit, we were joined by a number of folks from Dunkin Donuts as well as others interested in helping assist this worthy program as they prepare for the holiday crunch.

Dean presents a $100 donation to Mindy Ortiz at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Because food is delivered from all over in a wide variety of stages, every piece must be personally inspected to ensure that it is within the date limit before it can be distributed.  As we soon discovered, dates and package codes have different meanings depending on the item and Mr. Bill began our session with a 20-minute training soliloquy that had everyone engaged and laughing and that would make Shakespeare proud.

By the end of his tutorial, we were ready and eager to start reviewing and sorting items.  The organization was really impressive as we spread out on both sides of a long row of tables and started reviewing and sorting items.  Over the next two and a half hours, our group of 25 people sorted through seven pallets of material that included everything from chili powder, juice and cereal to Disney dolls, cookies and Ghirardelli chocolates

The work of Second Harvest is really quite amazing.  The food they collect is distributed to 450 nonprofit agencies within their six-county service area. They also accept monetary donations and are able to leverage that money in ways that purchases significantly more food than if you and I used the money at the grocery store and then gave them the items.  As part of our Give Yourself outreach, we made a $100 donation on behalf of Curley & Pynn to the agency that according to their projections, will allow for the purchase of roughly $900 in food value.

At the end of our three-hour session, Mr. Bill thanked all of us for the assistance and said he is always appreciative of repeat volunteers as well as referrals.  While the rest of us went back to our regular jobs the next day, you can guarantee that Mr. Bill was back at the warehouse training another set of volunteers and doing all he can to help stamp out hunger in Central Florida.

Team: Elizabeth & Kim

Elizabeth couldn’t help but hope that our team spread the spirit of “Give Yourself” in the K-mart checkout line.

We decided to give part of our Give Yourself budget to an outreach program put together by the St. Stephen Catholic Community. Every year, local elementary schools submit names of families in financial crisis. Donations are collected and the gymnasium, classrooms and meeting areas of the church are transformed into one big department store. Parents come out to shop through aisle after aisle of toys for their children and pick up bedding, clothes and other essential items for the entire family. The Christmas elves then package and gift wrap the holiday presents.

One of the departments most in need is the bedding room. While there are enough donations to fill a huge gymnasium with toys, donations of sheets and blankets are not as abundant. We put our savvy shopping skills to the test as we searched for the best deal on sheets. When we discovered an amazing sale at K-mart, Elizabeth rushed out to nab the sheet sets before they were picked over.

She loaded up the shopping cart and headed to the checkout. When it was her turn in line, she explained to the clerk that she was shopping for a company charity project and had a budget to stick to. She told her she’d hoped to be able to purchase everything in her cart, but to help keep an eye out as we reached the limit of our budget. As the number on the price scanner climbed dangerously close to our target amount, there were still sheets on the conveyor belt. When the last sheet set was rung up the clerk exclaimed, “you made it, you don’t have to put anything back!” Caught up in the moment, she and the K-mart clerk broke out their best victory dances and excitedly discussed the many families that will be able to stay a little bit warmer this holiday season.

We don’t know what lasting impression our project left on the K-mart clerk, but we’d like to think that she will be that more likely to give herself this holiday season.

Here’s a snapshot of the toys collected so far at St. Stephen:

Team: Dionne & Roger

For our Give Yourself shopping, Roger and I chose B.A.S.E. Camp’s Christmas Family Adoption Program where we “adopted” a family with a sick child and siblings to shop for. B.A.S.E. Camp is an organization that provides support for children and their families dealing with cancer and other life-threatening hematological illnesses. The Christmas Adoption Program allows these children and their siblings to make a wish list that Roger and I would then fulfill.

When you’re given a list of specific items and a budget to stick to, it’s a little trickier than just grabbing toys and food items off the shelves until you hit your max. Thus, our mission to fulfill the wish list seemed a bit of a challenge at first, but Roger and I were determined and worked together to ensure that we got all the items that the children requested.

The gift items ranged from a play kitchen set to a Nintendo DS with games. Among all the items on the list, there was one item for a special little girl that was scarce find: a pink cowgirl hat. It seemed simple enough, but when I called around to local stores they didn’t have any in stock, nor did they know where I could find one. Then Roger came to the rescue and searched his resources. He found the perfect store that had just what we needed and more; Skip’s Western Outfitters in Altamonte Springs. We found the perfect hat and a cute bandana to match! Once we told the staff why we were shopping and what we wanted they didn’t hesitate to help us find just the right hat; they were a great help.

We hope our gifts brighten up the lives of the children and the family we adopted. We thoroughly enjoyed giving ourselves and are glad we could make a difference in the lives of others.