by Meredith Muller
Roosevelt Elementary Community School Director
On Wednesday, December 16th, Vivint Gives Back Foundation played Santa at Roosevelt Elementary for over 450 students.
Purchasing gifts for 450 kids is no small feat. There’s the shopping, wrapping, organization, delivery, and not to mention the fundraising. Holly Mero-Bench, Director of Vivint Gives Back said she is always impressed with the giving nature of Vivint employees.
“Our funds are employee-raised and then matched by Vivint, so it’s always humbling to me when we raise $200,000-300,000 to care for these kids. Our employees are so generous,” said Mero-Bench.
But VGB makes it all look so easy. With the support of hundreds of volunteers from inside the Vivint company, VGB was able to pull off a Christmas miracle.
Each student at Roosevelt was given a short form to fill out with questions including: clothing sizes, wants, needs and favorite color. The completed forms were returned to Vivint who then distributed the forms to their many volunteers to purchase the gifts for students.
All of the shopping was done on Monday the 14th, all wrapping and loading of the Uhual truck—yes, they needed a Uhaul truck—on Tuesday the 15th, all followed by delivery on the morning of Wednesday the 16th (and a delivery to Lincoln on Thursday the 17th).
I can’t begin to imagine the hours upon hours of extra work Vivint employees put in that week and leading up to it, but I would venture to say the looks on Roosevelt’s students’ faces made it all worth it. Not only do Vivint volunteers deliver hundreds of wrapped gifts, bagged, labeled and organized by student grade and name, they stay all morning and pair up to sit with the students as they open their gifts. Being at Roosevelt every day, I know how much our students crave that one-on-one attention. Although it doesn’t fit in a beautifully wrapped box, this is perhaps one of the best gifts Vivint gives.
Mero-Bench talked about how humbling it was to see kids unwrap and love even the simplest of gifts.
“Kids ask for the most basic things,” said Mero-Bench. “To be asked as a second or third grader what you want for Christmas and to say you want socks or a toothbrush…”
And, it’s true. I saw students trying clothes on and wearing new clothes out of the gym. Groups of students would huddle together to show one another their matching pencils and their new Barbie doll. Every single student wanted to show off his or her gifts.
First-timer Melanie Rossiter, Coordinator for Vivint Gives Back, said she had a great experience
“It’s incredible just to see the smile on these kids’ faces,” said Melanie Rossiter. Coordinator for Vivint Gives Back.
Thank you, Vivint Gives Back Foundation,
for LIVING UNITED this holiday season!
You truly made a difference!
