{"id":536,"date":"2011-03-14T17:14:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T21:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cablesandkits.com\/?p=536"},"modified":"2017-08-17T16:15:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T20:15:49","slug":"gwinnettchildrenatchristmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cablesandkits.com\/blog\/gwinnettchildrenatchristmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Gwinnett Children bless CablesAndKits at Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Jonathan Stover, Michelle McCullers and Ryan VanEmburgh<\/p>\n

The following blog has been written by three separate CnK team members and edited and melded together by me, Christin. We wanted to take a little time to tell you a little about our end of the year Community Outreach projects. All of these projects were successful, not just for the need that was filled, but for the reminder to us about what is really important and how blessed we are to have our work, our homes, and our families.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just face it, we have it pretty good. Your car won\u2019t start? At least you have one. You\u2019re a little late on your mortgage payment? At least you have one.\u00a0 Having some difficulties at work, well, let just face it, you\u2019re lucky you have a job at all. The same can be said about so many aspects of our lives. Even those most fundamental, rudimentary things we tend to overlook and take for granted. Even those things that mean the most, like family.<\/p>\n

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When we find ourselves in the middle of the holiday season, our focus shifts from the business of life to the often overlooked, often times underappreciated \u201cimportant\u201d things in our lives. We spend less time in the office working on the things that \u201cjust can\u2019t wait\u201d, and more time on things \u00a0like spending time with those we love. Our priorities change and we again realize what\u2019s been important all along. At CablesAndKits, we believe that one of the most important parts of the holiday season is giving back to others.<\/p>\n

Our CnK co-workers are like family. Often times we end up spending more time with each other then we do our \u201creal\u201d families. With that being said, the holiday spirit and the return to the \u201cimportant\u201d was an easy migration from the home, to our home away from home, the office.<\/p>\n

To put actions to words, we chose an organization to assist. We decided that helping those that cannot help themselves and providing a little \u201cfamily\u201d was the way to go, so we chose to do four projects for a local children\u2019s home, the Gwinnett Children\u2019s Shelter<\/a>. The children who live in the Gwinnett Children\u2019s Shelter have been removed from difficult situations that have been deemed abusive or unhealthy for their well-being. The shelter cares for them and provides them with all the basic things that they need, but the shelter can never replace their families. We recognized that the holidays were probably a hard time for the children at the shelter, and we wanted to do something to hopefully bring a little cheer into their lives.<\/p>\n

Family traditions seem to be centered around holidays for us here in America. Whether your tradition is decorating a Christmas tree or illuminating lawns with strands of glowing lights that can be seen from galaxies afar, we can all relate to having them.\u00a0 In many of our shopping malls, Jingle Bells is played over and over, our homes may be saturated with the scents of peppermint candles and Christmas trees, and most of us will surprise family and friends with carefully wrapped boxes with gifts inside of them. Everyone in this world loves to receive gifts, but there would certainly be something missing if there was no one to give them.<\/p>\n

The projects that we chose to participate in were delivering a cooked meal, helping wrap gifts donated to the children living in the shelter, sponsoring a child who would enter the GCS close to Christmas and therefore wouldn\u2019t have gifts waiting like the other children, and as a company we donated a gift to each child.<\/p>\n

Jonathan\u2019s Project<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em> The project that I was involved in was delivering a cooked meal for the forty teenagers. A team consisting of myself and eight other co-workers prepared a home-style meal that included ham, turkey, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes,\u00a0 rolls, cranberry sauce, brownies and cookies. Let me tell you how rewarding it feels to give to those who truly need it. It was our pleasure to provide those kids with a little bit of home that they might not have received any other way. Let\u2019s just face it, no matter how tough things get, no matter how many things we think we need and don\u2019t have, what we need to cherish is the most important thing of all\u2026 family.<\/p>\n

Michelle\u2019s Project:<\/em><\/strong> The gift wrapping project that we took on was very hands on and was fun for us to do as a sort of extended CnK family. There were six CnK team members who came along with four family members. We were able go into one of the shelter\u2019s homes, see how some of the children live, and meet the director. Our team wrapped all of the gifts that CnK bought for each child (a super cool Jansport backpack and a Chik-fil-a gift card) along with several bags of other gifts for three children living in the shelter. Michelle organized a collection of gift wrap, tape, and scissors at the office and gathered our six team members to be there on wrapping day. She had this to say about wrapping gifts, \u201c It really was an eye opening experience going there, seeing where the kids live, hearing the stories of what they’ve been through, and how they are overcoming it now by being at the shelter. I am glad we were able to help and experience it firsthand. It really makes you look at your own life and appreciate what you have. There are so many people out there that do not have the luxuries that we take for granted every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan\u2019s Project:<\/em><\/strong> The most important part of the Holiday Season is giving back to others and being selfless. CablesAndKits recognizes the importance of giving, and we decided to sponsor a child this past Christmas. Through this project we were able to focus the generosity and efforts of the employees at CablesAndKits by playing \u201cSanta\u201d for one of the children in the program. The CablesAndKits warehouse becomes Santa\u2019s little workshop right before Christmas, so it fit right into our theme. We collected Holiday Spirit from everyone at CablesAndKits and then a few of us braved the malls to find the items on our child\u2019s Christmas list. I know Christmas morning our sponsored child had a smile on his face, and that is the best gift we could ask for.<\/p>\n

Here are a few pictures from our food delivery and gift wrapping projects:<\/p>\n