Kronos Giveback Initiative

The Sunday prior to Christmas my children, husband and self spent a day with the homeless… To be perfectly honest our church is a contributor to an event called “Church in the park”  it is an amazing ministry…. Our church participates in providing clothing tables in the months of November thru January.  My husband and I have been “waiting” for the right opportunity, the right age, the right… blah, blah, blah.  Well in all honesty folks there is nothing that has to be “right” with giving back, except your heart.  There isn’t an age limitation on homelessness, or need… nor are there color lines.  We took a leap of faith… and jumped feet forward.  Two days before our event my husband checked the forecast… mentioning that Sunday’s forecast was gust and high rain.  My response to that – we all have enough rain gear for an army – we will be fine, and the homeless will still be there. 

That said, I could not have been more proud of my family, especially my children.  We loaded trucks full of clothing and shoes, and hygiene bags.  My son, helped with all the manly duties he could (he’s 11!) taking on huge bags of clothes, etc.  My daughter and I started organizing tables of clothes, by gender, size and clothing type.  When the service was over the attendees were given a ticket that entitled them to a hygiene bag and as many clothing items as they could carry… My son distributed shoes in the right size, and my baby girl (7) helped with children’s clothing… we made it about 2 hours in with little to no rain, then the heavens came down.  We had tarps to keep the clothing dry, but as we noticed the homeless scatter throughout the park we realized there were still many people with children that needed to make their way home or to bus stops… my husband used our 1999 Toyota Corolla to take families of four to the nearest bus stop so the children would say remotely dry. 

Our hearts were so full at the end of the day.  We talked about it with the kids, asked what they learned… what they felt.  I can’t sum up all of the things that their little minds said, but it was touching.  Some of it is still so far from their reality.  There was one little boy that touched my son… he was around the same age, looked normal enough… but the giveaway as to his status were his shoes… Nike cleats.  Yes, in all the rain, and weather – the kid still tried to wear something “cool”  - it wasn’t until he came around with his ticket that my son realized that this child of his own age, who he could be friends with – really was in need… he was so excited to get a red scarf to stay warm… and he found a pretty cool hoodie too! 

Enjoy the attached pictures and know that it’s not the big things, and there is no “right” moment… all that has to be right is your heart! 

Love, Mo

Early in December we were provided 5 gift wish tags for children ages 2 to 16. We purchased those wished-for gifts. The gifts were sent to one of our local Family Giving Tree foundation warehouses to begin the massive job of cataloging and organizing the gifts by child age and location, to ultimately be delivered to the child that wished for the gift.  We volunteered to go to the warehouse where we joined our daughter, our grandkids and many other families to become Holiday Warehouse Elves who receive, sort and wrap the gifts for low-income children. The Family Giving Tree Foundation hopes to surpass their 2011 achievement and distribute over 70,000 gifts nationwide this year.  Thanks to the “Kronos Gives Back” program for providing me the time to enjoy participating in this very worthwhile program for the kids!

Our Vision:  The Family Giving Tree envisions a world where every child is made to feel like a valuable part of their community through a shared belief in the power of giving. Our Mission:  The Family Giving Tree fulfills the exact holiday wish and provides backpacks filled with school supplies to those children in the most need in our communities while inspiring the values of kindness, philanthropy and volunteerism. More than 66,000 Childrens' Wishes Granted in 2011! In a world that is becoming increasingly anonymous, our Holiday Wish Drive offers a way to directly touch a child's life. We work with more than 250 Bay Area social service agencies that supply us with the names and wishes of the children they serve year-round. A wish card is printed for each child, detailing their age, gender, first name and their wish for a holiday gift. Over 900 Bay Area companies, schools and organizations participate in the program by displaying the wish cards, often on trees, in their lobbies and other public areas. It is the generosity of employees, customers and students that makes this program a success. By selecting a wish card, they pledge to purchase a special gift for a child in need.

http://www.familygivingtree.org/about_us/about_us.html

The Wish Project in Lowell, MA has supported the Motel Homeless through their Emergency Support Program since 2006.  This program helps about 1,000 families with furniture, clothing, baby and home goods primarily through reusing 720 tons of donated goods each year. Each year they provide more than $1 million in value of free goods to more than 36,000 needy people - most of whom are children. By helping the recently homeless to thrive in their first year out on their own they are helping us all. In addition, their staff works a hotline 24/7 for the many dozens of families that cannot get a placement in a shelter and are housed in temporary motel shelters. Though this is much better than being on the streets, it does mean that the whole families are living in one room with a microwave and cube refrigerator to cook from. The Wish Project delivers emergency food, clothing, diapers and more to these families. Wish is also conscious of the environment. Every wish that comes true for their clients means one more bed, coffee machine, and more that is not in a landfill.

Their 13,000 sq ft warehouse in Lowell provides a safe place for people to donate and volunteer. Members of Kronos Educational Services and Service Portfolio Consulting teams spent a few hours on December 11th sorting donations and building home starter kits for Wish clients. For more information about the Wish Project, go to thewishproject.org. 

Career Collaborative is a Boston-based non-profit that provides coaching and support for the working poor looking to find and get new ‘career-oriented’ jobs with the right pay to support themselves and their families. Career Collaborative’s programs include a four-week job-search/job-readiness class, complete with practice job interviews performed each Friday morning.

Last Friday, I responded to organization’s call for practice interviewer volunteers. It was a great experience – I role-played a job interview (complete with my own fake office!) for five of the program participants, and then provided feedback to each on how they came across in the interview and what they did well and not so well. All five of the participants are currently in minimum wage style jobs but are excited and motivated to find something better. Many are recent immigrants with great potential who just don’t know the in’s & out’s of an American job search. I only met with the participants for about 30 minutes each, but they are inspiring individuals – I really want to see them succeed! Hopefully I helped them a little bit on their way…

It was definitely a rewarding experience, and I’ve already signed up for two more practice interview sessions early next year.

The attached pic is me and a couple of the other interview volunteers.

Obligatory plug: if you would like to learn more about Career Collaborative, check out their website: careercollaborative.org

John Nikula

Senior Manager, Custom Education

Ed Services @ Your Service Returns to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank

The Ed Services @ Your Service Team returned to the Merrimack Valley Food Bank on December 5^th to help sort, organize and stock shelves for the market type setup they use for area food pantries. This allows for them  to be able to easily find what they need to support their guests. The volume of food that is donated is heartwarming and needs volunteers to keep moving the food to where it is needed. Deb Callery, the coordinator for the volunteers and her regular volunteers were very helpful in getting us up to speed quickly in an effort to make the most impact in the short time we were there. After a few hours of camaraderie, much sorting, stacking and 1 can that was pre Y2K, we left with a good feeling that the shelves were stocked and ready to go. It is a great cause and one that will continue to a part of our volunteering opportunities going forward.

Volunteering at this event were Alicia Alcaino, Stacey Cetaruk, Susan, Charest, LeAnne Gaudio, Lillian Montero, Michael Okeke, Peter Ojerholm, Mahesh Thoppae and Roger Tremblay.

Check out some of the pictures from the event:

The generous ladies of Sheree’s local volunteer group are back at it again. Sheree’ was able to spend 2 hours of Kronos time on a trip back to Clark Elementary school in a poverty stricken area of the Metroplex.  The group had gotten such great participation from members during the School Supply Drive this summer that they went full throttle with efforts to help a couple of families who are in particular need of our donations this holiday season.  Clark’s school counselor gave the names of 2 such families.

Last Saturday many of the women in the group donated money while others went shopping for Thanksgiving goodies such as bags of potatoes, boxes of stuffing, cans of gravy and many other trimmings.  They also provided decorative plates and napkins to these families along with gift cards to purchase turkeys or any other items they may need or want.

Sheree’ notes: “I can’t tell you how fortunate I feel to not only be associated with such a wonderful group of women but fortunate to have the opportunity to leave my desk for a couple of hours to help with this delivery.  We left boxes of goodies for family (A) at the school but was able to hand-deliver the items to family (B) at their home.  Once at their home we learned that family (B) was not only made up of a single mother with 5 children but that her oldest teen was very ill. He apparently has a very serious heart condition.  I can’t express how deeply this touched all who participated.”

Thanks to Sheree’ for the donation of her time and energy to such a worthy cause.

The Alexander Leigh Center for Autism was founded by two mothers; both parents of children with autism. These two dedicated mothers were determined to create a place where children can reach their full individual potential, in a caring and safe environment, a place where each child’s differences are what make them special. To provide an environment where children on the autistic spectrum can develop their potential academically, emotionally, socially, communicatively, physically and gain functional independence using programs and methods that are selected for each child based on their individual needs.

Kelly Bailey, a devoted mother of a 8-year old autistic child, organized a full day of volunteer work for herself and four other Chicago-based custom education team members at the Alexander Leigh Center for Autism. One of the volunteers, Sherry Sanchez, even brought her two teenage daughters to help the Kronos volunteers support the Center in an effort to beautify the school in preparation for an open house. Together, they dedicated over 30 hours to wash walls, clean windows, scour bathrooms, and paint entire rooms. Kathrine, of the Alexander Leigh Center for Autism said “Your willingness to help the center has inspired me to launch a new ‘Weekend Warriors’ program of our own”.

Michele Johnson | Custom Education Developer | Kronos Incorporated
tel: +1 630 705 9203 | mob: +1 630 561 9880 | fax: +1 866 290 8510
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On a chilly and drizzly Thursday afternoon in October eight Chicago / Indy based Kronites headed back to the People’s Resource Center in Wheaton, Illinois to lend a hand.    And while the weather outside wasn’t the best the mood and the warmth inside made for smiles all around.   It was another great event made better by sharing it with co-workers and friends!  Special thanks to all for donating time and goods (the Indy folks brought a whole car load of food / clothes). 

Kronos Participants

Kevin Brimberry

Sarah Fuys

Fenrick James

Cheryl Johnson

Robin Platt

Jim Puccini

Kathy Reszel

Susie Salins

More on the PRC -

Since 1975, People’s Resource Center has been bringing neighbors together to respond to hunger and poverty in DuPage County (Illinois).   Today they serve 32,000 individuals through their various programs (offering services to meet basic needs and transform lives).  

Please visit www.peoplesrc.org and learn about all of their amazing programs

·         Food Pantries

·         Clothes Closet

·         Homeless Prevention

·         Computer Access and Training

·         Adult Basic Education (ESL and GED)

·         Art Therapy

·         Internships

·         Job Assistance