Back to School Help for Disadvantaged Children

The past couple of years Le Top employees have supported a program near and dear to our hearts through Volunteers of America, called Operation Backpack. The program collects necessary back-to-school supplies and disburses them to Greater Sacramento, CA area homeless and disadvantaged families, as well as agencies and school districts. I know summer has just started but the new school year is fast approaching and these children are lacking the basics to start school off on the right track. Operation Backpack is accepting filled backpacks or supplies from July 8-22, 2011. If you or a group you are involved in would like to donate or participate see how you do it below (taken from the Volunteers of America website.)

Give Back. Give a Pack.

1. Individuals

• Pick a school supply list.
• Purchase a new backpack filled with school supplies according to the grade level of your choice.
• Securely tag the backpack with the school supply list and bring to one of the participating drop-off locations between July 8 and 22.

2. Groups – Join the 100 Pack!

• The 100 Pack celebrates Volunteers of America’s 100th anniversary of providing human services in Greater Sacramento. By joining today, your group commits to sponsoring its very own Operation Backpack drive, and collecting as many new backpacks and school supplies as possible.
• Introduce your personal network of friends, family, neighbors, colleagues and social groups to Operation Backpack and start today!

Volunteer

• Volunteers are crucial to the success of Operation Backpack. Starting in late-June, and continuing through the first week of August, volunteers are needed to fulfill a variety of roles, including: Runners; Sorters; and Pick-a-Pack Day Event Assistants.
• For more details and to sign up, please visit the Operation Backpack Volunteer page.

Support Kids Now!

• Don’t have time to shop or volunteer, but still want to make a difference? Visit the online donation page to make a contribution today!

For additional information on Operation Backpack, please see the list of supporting pages to the left, or contact them at OperationBackpack@voa-sac.org, or 916.442.3691.

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Spreading Joy Around the World

Our le•top elves with some of their gift filled boxes - clockwise from the back Daryle, Brenda, Linda, Diana, Robyn, Kristin

The Holiday Season brings thoughts of shopping, food and family – as we use every free moment to prepare for Christmas, Hanukah or Kwanza.  Unfortunately there are many reminders that not everyone has the essentials to make the holiday a true celebration – and in the spirit of the holiday we want to reach out to those less fortunate than ourselves.

For the past eight years I have participated in a program through the Samaritan’s Purse Organization named ‘Operation Christmas Child.’  This charity strives to send gifts to children throughout the world, as well as in our own backyard – children who would not be fortunate enough to receive gifts during the holiday season.

This year fellow le•top co-workers Linda, Brenda, Diana, Daryle, Robyn and I participated in this program to assist Santa to make a happy holiday for children in need.  Our mission was to choose a boy or girl (ages 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14) and then to fill a decorated shoebox as full as possible with toys, school items, hygiene essentials, hard candy or other desired items.  We had great fun posing as elves – shopping with local retailers to pick out the perfect gifts for these children.  le•top also donated plush toys and purses to the organization!

This wonderful charity gives us the option to track our shoe box gifts.  Several of the ‘elves’ decided they would love to find out the destinations of their boxes.  Check back and we will post an update on our gifts as the move around the world.

*National collection week for the Operation Christmas Child program, ends this Monday, November 23^rd.  There is still time to participate in this wonderful program.  For more information and a drop-off location near you, please check www.samaritanspurse.org/occ for details.

 

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The Gift of the Magi…A Gift from the Heart

Kira Showing off her Donation

O. Henry’s famous story “The Gift of the Magi” teaches the lesson of selfless giving – of gifts from the heart.  Here at le•top we were able to witness one of our own ‘le•top children’ learning the value of an unselfish gift.

Robyn – our Assistant Credit Manager and mom to daughter Kira, age 9 – knows that at Kira’s very impressionable age she needs to teach her how to live a rewarding and fulfilling life.  Robyn is a great mom and tells us “I believe that encouraging and motivating children early in life is crucial. Kira really wanted to cut her hair at the beginning of summer, but after a long discussion about helping others in need of wigs she decided she just had to wait. We discussed that her hair would need to grow a bit longer so she could donate her ponytail to women or children who are suffering hair loss. Teaching her to give something of herself to those less fortunate is not only a selfless act but important to our society.”

She made it with more than an inch to spare.

Did you know it takes about 6 or 7 donated ponytails to make one wig? A wig can help an adult or child’s self-esteem when they are dealing with hair loss because of a medical treatment for illness.  Though there are a number of organizations that accept hair donations Robyn and Kira chose Pantene Beautiful Lengths, an organization encouraging individuals to donate a minimum of 8 inches of healthy hair that would then be used to make free wigs for women who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatments.

It was a struggle for Kira to grow her hair that long but when the time FINALLY came she was so excited!  She said that she was happy to have helped someone in need – and the bonus was that the new haircut looks really cute!

Listed below are a few other organizations that support similar donations. Each organization has slightly different requirements about the length and condition of the hair, but each one will send you a packet, then you send the hair back to them. Very Easy!

http://www.wigsforkids.org

Basic requirements: hair must be 12 inches. (This organization provides wigs to children for no charge.)

http://www.locksoflove.org

Basic requirements: hair must be 10 inches. (This organization provides wigs either free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need.)

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Back to School – with all the “Right Stuff!”

Houston…we have a problem.”

Americans are GREAT at solving problems!  Remember the triumphant safe return of our Astronauts?  Right now there is a big problem with one of our most vulnerable groups of citizens – disadvantaged and homeless children.  These children are approaching Back to School, just like millions of children across the United States – but have a problem…a lack of the basic necessities needed to start school off on the right foot. 

A Backpack Filled with all The Right Stuff

Fortunately there is a group of heroes out there ready to help!  Julie, a member of our Inside Sales Team and outstanding mother of five, brought our attention to a program near and dear to her heart. Volunteers of America, a non-profit organization in the Sacramento/Yolo County area, administer a program called Operation Backpack that offers services to local disadvantaged families.   One of the key services at this time of year is supplying backpacks filled with school supplies to give children all the advantages they deserve to start the school year on a positive note.  After hearing about this praiseworthy project I couldn’t help but get involved… I have a passion for kids and a soft spot in my heart for those that have the will to learn, but lack the means to easily navigate the educational process.

Kristin Sporting Her Donated Backpack

I jumped at the opportunity to work with Volunteers of America – and honestly had a blast roaming through the aisles of our local retailer, picking out the perfect Hannah Montana backpack, then filling it with a binder, super cool markers, crayons, pens, pencils, etc.  It was all the fun of school shopping without the stress of going to class! Julie and I filled up several backpacks for the kids, and had a ball doing it.  Julie’s son asked where his backpack was…and he’s 23!  We can’t wait until next year when we do this again…although we shouldn’t wait, since Volunteers of America collects backpacks throughout the entire year. 

Operation Backpack has collected 2,938 backpacks so far this year – double the donations from last year!  Even in a tough economy people see the importance of investing in our children’s future.  If you have a desire to help our country’s children get a head start on a valuable and needed education, please contact Volunteers of America to see how you can assist.  The children will thank you!

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Saving the Planet for Our Kids

Boxes Can Have a Second Life in a Garden

When it comes to saving our planet – every little bit helps. Recently we posted how we at le•top recycle our eco-friendly “trash”.  Shipments of garments come through each week and we end up with the  inevitable by-product – an overabundance of cardboard boxes.  Needless to say, we seized the opportunity to donate the boxes to the Hercules Sustainable Community Garden, which in turn uses them in their organic gardens in Hercules, CA.  With the help of our SUPER employees Linda and Tony, we hooked up with this group and hauled off a ton of boxes!

Click to See Full Size Letter

The Hercules Sustainable Community Garden Foundation was so sweet, they sent us a thank you letter and are promoting le•top on their site!  Moving one baby step closer to being a “green” company brings all of us at le•top peace of mind.

In return, a big thank you is due to the HSCGF for putting together this wonderful project.  We can’t wait to take a lunch time stroll around the beautiful community gardens when they are planted!

For those of you in the SF Bay Area, HSCGF is always looking for volunteers to get their hands dirty.  Get to know your neighbors while learning some new sustainable and organic gardening techniques.  Their website can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/herculesgardening/

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le•top Cares – NAMI Walk

NAMI Walk in Golden Gate Park

Although it was a fairly typical foggy morning in Golden Gate Park, my family arrived early bringing tea and bagels. Every year, we walk with all the other psychiatrists and their families from the Northern California Psychiatric Society. (My step-dad is next year’s President.) This year he organized our own team – consisting mostly of our family and those of other workers from Marin General Hospital. We collected our free NAMI (National Association for Mental Illness) t-shirts (because we each raised more than the $200 minimum sponsorship) and met with the rest of our team.

The park was full of women, men, and children of all ages wearing t-shirts to represent their teams – “Walking for Kaylee,” “If My Heart Were a Place,” and “Healing Hugs” were just a few of the 157 teams that gathered to raise funds and bring awareness to mental illness. However, this event wasn’t meant to be sad. In fact, the energy ran high as everyone listened to Grand Marshall Patty Duke and prepared to do warm-up jumping jacks before the walk. I even volunteered to go on stage and announce our team, Marin General Hospital “Bon Airs”, to over 1500 walkers and TV cameras. The walk itself always seems much shorter than 5K – on account of great company and conversation! It felt good to know that we contributed to the nearly $300,000 that NAMI raised this year. But most importantly, it felt good to know that every year we walk for such an important cause.

Thanks to all my friends at le•top for contributing to my fund raising goal this year! It was a great help. Please join NAMI Walks next year, May 2010, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.”

For further information regarding the NAMI Walks in the San Francisco Bay Area, go to http://www.namiwalksfbay.org/.

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