VanDyk Mortgage’s Operations staff was excited to participate in a toy drive for the Children’s Home Society of Florida! For three weeks, employees collected gifts based on children’s wish lists. Overall, they made the holiday wishes of 60 children come true.
CHS offers support services for children all over the state of Florida, and they were honored to team up with them for the second year. For more information about CHS and the good work they are doing please visit: https://www.chsfl.org/
VanDyk Mortgage Operations Center in Clearwater held a Back to School Drive to collect many needed supplies for two of Pinellas County’s schools with the highest poverty levels. Over 150 of the students are actually homeless, totally relying on donations. The team really stepped it up for these kids. We collected over 200 folders and composition books, 300 pencils, 100 boxes of crayons, 40 backpacks, 25 pencil boxes, and so much more. Thank you to everyone who donated and also to our neighbors, PODS who brought over a cart full of supplies to help out our drive. The supplies were delivered prior to the start of school so they would be ready to hand out to the kids when school started Thursday, August 10th.
Cards for Hospitalized Kids (CFHK) is an internationally recognized charitable organization that spreads hope, joy & magic to hospitalized kids across America through uplifting, handmade cards. Over 100,000 kids in hospitals in all 50 states have received cards from them. One night, some members from Strategic Alliance Operations took time out of their busy schedules after work to make handmade cards for this AWESOME organization. A special thank you to Barbara Strickland, Olga Morekhodova, Lindsey Magness, Michal Stout, Kim Laughlin, and Laura Carucci, who spent the evening, cutting, pasting, and bedazzling construction paper with messages of encouragement and hope. Over the next few days, more people pitched in by creating cards during their breaks. Overall, we created 100 cards for the organization to distribute. It’s rewarding to know that donating a few hours of our time will help brighten the days of a few of the over 3 million children hospitalized each year in the US.
In 2016, CFHK celebrated their 5 year anniversary, and they are hoping this is just the beginning. Anyone can get involved, even if you don’t think you’re a creative person. It’s all about lifting the spirits of these children. Visit http://www.cardsforhospitalizedkids.com/ to learn how you can host a card making event.
