Through the Eyes of a Child
MSC office - Toys for Tots Drive
With the recession making the approaching holidays seem for many of us about as joyous as a midnight tax audit, we might all do well to regress a little bit and revisit the holidays as seen through the eyes of a child. Everyone remembers how exciting and filled with fun and anticipation those days were. The sights, sounds and smells; not to mention the expectations of surprises to unwrap, delicious holiday meals to inhale and families coming together at the end of every year was enough to make even the worst times stop dead in their tracks—if only for a few days.
Making the holidays special for a child makes them special for all of us. That’s why even with its huge philanthropic heart very much in tact, Southwest Florida still has its work cut out for it this holiday season. The unemployment rate—now hovering at 11.2 percent statewide—is at least a full percentage point higher in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties—thus forcing not a few families to make the gut-wrenching choice between paying the bills and putting food on the table and gifts into little hands.
This is not to say that the community hasn’t already stepped-up commendably to address the widespread fallout created by the worst recession and housing crisis since the Great Depression. Yet the growing tsunami of need has vastly outstripped just about every charity’s ability to provide the necessary depth of even its core services.
According to last week’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune, volunteers at All Faiths Food Bank “sorted and boxed 936,000 pounds of donated food over the last three months—a 17 percent increase over the same period last year.” Even so, they were still forced to dip into their cash reserves to come up with the one million pounds of food requested by 160 area food pantries. Such reserves are fast being depleted at charities throughout the region, as contributions from individuals and corporations also fall victim to hard times.
As we move to within three weeks of saying good riddance to a highly forgettable year for the region’s economy, please join the extended family of agents, staff and management at Michael Saunders & Company in offering as much help as we possibly can to help every child realize the same unbridled joy and anticipation that most of us felt this time of year when we were kids. As a company, each Michael Saunders & Company office from Bradenton to Englewood will donate time, money and effort to such family and child-centric charities as All Faith’s Food Bank, Toys for Tots, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Second Chance, Last Opportunity.
Did you know that All Faith’s Food Bank can provide 159 meals for the $100 you might easily spend on dinner out for two? $500 will serve nearly 800 meals; and one volunteer donating one hour can sort enough food to create 130 meals. More than the obvious benefit of a nutritious meal, food serves as a magnet to attract needy individuals and families—who may be reluctant to ask for outside help—into benefitting from other counseling services. The outreach efforts of All Faiths Food Bank link their clients to an array of social interventions that help put them on a path to solid self sufficiency. To learn how you can contribute, visit allfaithsfoodbank.org.
Giving a toy or making a monetary donation to Toys for Tots is one of the surest ways to guarantee that the joys of the holiday season are not lost on the very embodiment of it—our children. Last year, approximately 9,000 underprivileged children in our area received almost 24,000 toys through Toys for Tots; and you can expect the number of children in need to be even greater this year. Michael Saunders & Company is proud to be a participating sponsor of Toys for Tots; and you may drop off a new unwrapped toy at any one of our 16 sales offices throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties; or indeed at any Toys for Tots drop box throughout the region. Your gift sends the powerful message that every child is too precious and important to be forgotten. Find out more at toysfortotssarasota.org.
You can also provide for local children and families through Second Chance Last Opportunity, a Sarasota-based organization whose overall mission is to provide a variety of educational training programs, street outreach, and inspirational youth programming to at-risk teens, teen mothers and low income families. As part of SCLO most participating families require assistance with holiday giving only twice. By the third year, most have acquired the skills necessary to manage on their own. Find out how you can help at secondchancelastopportunity.org.
Now is also the best time of the year to get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast. BBSS provides one-on-one mentoring to 1,600 area children annually between the ages of 6 and 18. Such mentoring has a powerful impact on academic performance, self-confidence, attitude and relationships; and right now, BBSS has a waiting list of 200 children in need of such life-changing support. New unwrapped holiday gifts are also being collected for children (age 6 to teen) and should be dropped off at the Siesta Key office of Michael Saunders & Company—located at 5100 Ocean Boulevard in Siesta Village—by Tuesday, December 8. Find out more at bbbssun.org.
These are just a few of ways we as a company like to give back to the community during the holiday season. As individuals and families, our agents, staff, and leadership team give of themselves all year long to worthwhile charities throughout the region. However you plan to give, on behalf of all of us at Michael Saunders & Company we thank you for caring; and wish you and yours a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2010. Above all, we hope that each of you has the opportunity to experience the season through the eyes of the child you help.
Written by Tom Heatherman – Michael Saunders & Company
* Follow Tom on Twitter: twitter.com/SarasotaRE
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