Six Ideas for Channeling That Holiday Spirit
We have thousands of people at Clorox who are generous with their time, money and other kinds of donations throughout the year. But when it comes to the holidays, that generosity goes on hyper drive, and our Community Relations team gets inundated with requests from people and teams looking to channel their holiday spirit.
We’re sure you have lots of traditions for celebrating the season, but in case you’re looking for a few more/new ideas, here are some programs that our Community Relations guru Deborah Napierski has helped organize over the years.
Adopt a family
Contact a shelter, school, church or other nonprofit organization to get a “wish list” of items from a family or group. Purchase the items on the list, wrap and deliver to the organization. To enhance the group experience, plan wrapping parties and group shopping trips for needed items. We work with Brighter Beginnings in Oakland.
Coat Drive
One Warm Coat started out in 1992 as a Thanksgiving weekend coat drive in San Francisco. Since then, they have welcomed thousands of groups across North America with the same goal: Collect coats to give to those in need, free of charge. Visit the One Warm Coat website for all the information you need to organize a coat drive at your location.
Food Drive
Food banks tend to get especially low on supplies during the holidays. Call or check out the website of your local food bank to find out its specific needs and how you can help. Some food banks provide barrels or you can use large boxes and place them at prominent locations around your office or facility. You can arrange convenient pick-up and delivery with the food bank. Our Oakland and Pleasanton offices work with the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
Host a Meal Packaging Event
Kick off a holiday get together with a Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging event. Volunteers set up and take down packaging stations and equipment, fill bins with raw ingredients, scoop ingredients into meal bags, weigh and seal the bags, box and stack them on pallets, and load the pallets and equipment onto a truck. Events take place either at a Stop Hunger Now warehouse or at the volunteers’ location through a mobile operation that delivers ingredients and supplies.
Wish-list Program
Partner with a shelter, school, church or other nonprofit organization to obtain a “wish list” of items. Write each of the items down on tags and hang them on holiday trees (or any festive structure) in prominent locations around your workplace. People select a tag, purchase the specific item and place it in large boxes under the tree or bring to program leads. This year we are partnering with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital (formerly Children’s Hospital Oakland).
Toy Drive
Visit Toys for Tots to learn how to organize a toy drive. You can also partner with a local hospital, shelter, youth organization or other community-based organization to arrange a toy drive. Contact the organization to find out its needs and arrange a drop-off date. Put barrels or toy receptacles in a central locations and publicize the need for toys. Typically organizations prefer unwrapped toys.
Tips for planning your own holiday event
Want to host your own holiday event? Deborah suggests keeping these four things in mind:d
- Ask the nonprofit organization for its specific guidelines up front.
- Communicate your event plans early and often to your facility/office managers.
- Develop a communication plan that will help spread the word.
- Have fun!