Just before the holidays, the HSAwareness teamed up with the firm’s long-time partner, Chicago Commons, to give back to the community by preparing and delivering gifts to local low-income families.
A team of volunteers led by HSA Senior Vice President, Josephine Thomas-Hoytt, asked participants to either sponsor a family by purchasing gifts independently or provide a monetary contribution for HSA volunteers to do the shopping.
With considerable donations from both inside and outside the company, the HSAwareness team carefully chose items for each individual, including onesies, musical toys and stuffed animals for the babies, and sweaters, board games and activity books for the older children. Each family also received a box of microwave popcorn and a copy of Pixar’s “Inside Out” for a family movie night.
In the end, volunteers packaged holiday gift bags for 10 families (totaling more than 30 people) to be distributed throughout Chicago Commons’ four child development centers: Taylor Center for New Experiences, Nia Family Center, Guadalupano Family Center and Paulo Freire Family Center. These facilities serve to improve the math, language, emotional and cognitive skills of over 800 at-risk children in the Chicago area.
HSAwareness has previously worked with Chicago Commons on multiple facility renovation projects, including freshening the playground at Paulo Freire Family Center in July (watch a video of the project). Bob Smietana, CEO of HSA Commercial, is a long-time governing board member at Chicago Commons.
