This year for ADKF’s holiday volunteer activity, the team spent the morning at the Haven for Hope Donation Center. Our annual holiday volunteer activities provide staff the opportunity to give back to the community, work together across multiple departments, and deepens the relationship with our nonprofit clients.
The team gathered early in the morning to tour the facility. While touring the Transformation Campus our guide explained how impactful it is to have 67 on-campus nonprofit organizations working together to address homelessness in our community. The campus, which was laid out in the shape of Texas, had almost every service you could think of. A few of the benefits to entering the program included access to career readiness training, resume assistance, detox programs, spiritual guidance, legal assistance, a clinic, hot meals, showers, beds, and even a place for dogs/cats to stay. Volunteers are always in need from hairstylists donating their talents, to homework assistance for the younger students on campus.
After the tour, we spent the rest of our afternoon sorting through donated items. The warehouse had mountains of donated items waiting to be stored. We started our work organizing by size, then we tackled the mountain of clothes. A few of our volunteers discussed how they will sort their donated items by gender, size and with hangers, to ease the burden of the donation center. A small group had the opportunity to sort through toys and learned the importance of making sure the toys are not broken, missing parts, or dirty. The major eyeopener was seeing several bins filled with stuffed animals that could not be donated due to hygiene concerns. Overall the morning was productive but the center still needs all the volunteers they can get. We hope to spread the word about the meaningful work Haven for Hope is doing for the homeless in our county.
In the picture above from back left to right: JP Steyn, Jay Garcia, Audit Partner Tyson Gaenzel, Barbara Aguilar, Natalie Schoenike, Janine L’Amoreaux, Leila Rolike, Cliff Peveto, Andrew Spraggins, Angela Jacquez, Melanie Gamez, Veronica Hinojosa, Cristina Zalaznik, Anette Barrera, Paula Heredia, Kathy Guerrero, Karen Aranda.
