It included 134 kids, over 700 gifts, and almost $15,000, but the number of ways it will brighten the holidays for many people in the Tampa Bay area could be incalculable.
On Dec. 2, we continued our company’s holiday tradition by making a huge drop-off of toys and gifts at the Salvation Army center in South St. Petersburg to help kids that we “adopted” for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program. The donation continues our holiday tradition that also includes programs with Habitat for Humanity and Metropolitan Ministries, and a tradition that perfectly complements our company’s legacy of improving people’s lives through quick, cost-efficient, and expert repair solutions.
Angel Tree Program
For the fourth year in a row, we participated in the Angel Tree program. To do it, we organized a company campaign to encourage employees to “adopt” a child of a needy family, buy gifts for the child that included both “needs” and “wants” specified in wish lists by the child’s family, and bring the gifts to the office to be collected for a mass delivery to the South St. Petersburg Salvation Army center.
The big day was on Dec. 2, when a team of about 10 MaintenX employees traveled in a convoy from our South Tampa office to the Salvation Army center in South St. Petersburg to drop off all the toys and gifts. It was truly a team effort that we needed everyone’s help with to assemble, transport, and drop off hundreds of gifts, including everything from toys to craft kits to tablets to bikes to scooters.
And one of the best parts of our effort is that MaintenX made a company match for each child adopted by an employee to double the total amount of adopted children. With this match, we were able to adopt a total of 134 children and donate more than 700 toys and gifts that amounted to about $100 to $150 for each child!
Bill Schaphorst, Vice President, New Business Development, summed up our effort well: “It’s a privilege and a pleasure for our company to take part in this program each year and help brighten the holidays for a number of disadvantaged children and their families across the Tampa Bay area. Thanks to an excellent partnership with and careful organization by the Salvation Army, we’re able to have a direct impact on how some of those less fortunate celebrate the holidays. To say that we helped 134 children and donated over 700 toys and gifts will be one of our company’s proudest results for 2022.”
Habitat for Humanity Program
Another program that is part of our holiday tradition is sponsoring the building of and assisting in the construction of one house a year for a needy family through Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco Counties.
Starting in 2019, we’ve provided company financial support and employee volunteer construction service to build one Habitat for Humanity house a year for a disadvantaged family needing a home.
We continued with this effort in December when, on Dec. 3, at our annual holiday party, we announced a new Habitat house we would sponsor. The new Habitat homeowners were on hand to celebrate the news with us as well as some of the homeowners of completed houses from our previous Habitat projects. We’re looking forward to beginning the construction of the new home next spring!
Plus, besides helping build new homes, we’re also a regular sponsor of Habitat for Humanity’s annual Golfing Fore Habitat tournament, and we recently took part in that on Oct. 31.
Metropolitan Ministries Program
A third program that has become a part of MaintenX’s annual charitable tradition is the contributing of tens of employee volunteer service hours helping hungry families pick up food supplies at the holiday tent of Metropolitan Ministries.
There, we help distribute food to needy families by stocking food items at distribution centers, loading them on carts for recipients, and assisting recipients with the transport of food items to their vehicles, among other activities.
This year, about 10 employees completed volunteer shifts on Nov. 18 and 22, and about 10 more have registered to complete shifts on Dec. 16 and 22.
We also participate in Metropolitan Ministries’ Backpacks of Hope program, which provides backpacks, uniforms, and school supplies to disadvantaged children in late summer, at the beginning of each school year.
Special Thank-You
A special thanks goes to – everyone at MaintenX!
From our senior executives, who sponsored the matching gift offer for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, to everyone who adopted a child and bought gifts amounting to $75 to $150 for each one, to everyone who helped assemble, load, and transport gifts to the Salvation Army center, to everyone who volunteered for a shift at Metropolitan Ministries, to everyone who has lent a hand on our previous Habitat for Humanity projects and everyone who is planning to lend one on our next one, thank you!
We couldn’t have done it without you, and we look forward to everyone’s participation in the future so we can continue our company’s proud holiday charitable tradition for many years to come.
