Getting involved with local non-profits is important to me. But sometimes that can be harder to do than it should be.
As part of my company’s volunteer committee, I am fortunate in that I get to influence what organizations my company donates time and money too. Unfortunately, some of the organizations we have gotten involved with or tried to get involved with left a bad taste for both the committee and many of the the employees who volunteered their time or gave donations.
This year, we got involved with a local children’s program, Mount Saint Vincent Home. Touring the facility beforehand I was very impressed with them and what they’re trying to do. Our company would be donating our time to do two days of fun events for the children – painting ornaments, making reindeer puppet bags, decorating gingerbread houses and cookies.
When we asked what else could be done to help, they mentioned that in addition to the usual things, they really appreciated donations that allowed for them to take the kids out. Movie gift cards, restaurant gift cards, event tickets etc, as this allowed them to teach life and social skills in addition to giving the children a fun experience.
It’s amazing some of the skills we take for granted – ordering from a menu, making a purchase.
One of my co-workers was able to secure a number of tickets for Mount Saint Vincent to attend the Colorado Ballet’s performance of the Nutcracker. The day I volunteered, I got to listen to many of the kids’ excitement about their experience at the ballet. At least one of them demonstrated what the ballet dancers did and told me he wanted to learn ballet.
How great it was to see how much impact this really had on the kids. It made me want to do more.
As many people who know me know, I’m a HUGE lacrosse fan, and more specifically of the Colorado Mammoth. One of the great things about Mammoth games is that they’re affordable. You can take a family of four to a game for less than it costs to go to a movie.
I thought it would be a lot of fun to send the kids to a game. I contacted the Mammoth organization to find out what kind of a deal I might be able to work with them so I could afford more tickets. I was given a price. I then spoke with one of the ladies from Mount Saint Vincent to find out how many tickets they would need. She said 15 tickets would make it so they could send an entire unit including chaperons.
15 tickets was very doable, but I wished I could do more.
I sent out a challenge on Twitter, Facebook and to my fellow Mammoth fans to match me on tickets. I also went back to the Mammoth and asked if they would be willing to match us ticket for ticket. They were!
I thought I might get one of two people to help me out. Boy was I wrong! I had six people say they wanted to help! That’s a lot of tickets. One fellow fan wanted to do even more and rather than having the Mammoth match him on tickets, asked if they would match him on vouchers so the kids could have food and drinks at the games.
Seeing how much impact just a few of us were able to have inspired me, and thus Fans Help was born. With your help, I look forward to doing more in the upcoming year.
– Melissa
