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| Volunteer shoppers Gay and Laurie from Nashville Wraps took $150 to Goodwill and purchased 150 warm outer garments on 99 Cent Day. |
By Beverly Vaughn, Nashville Wraps Customer Care
When the president of Nashville Wraps was outside doing chores and caring for his pets during a recent cold snap, he thought about how cold he was, even in all his warm winter gear, and it occurred to him…how in the world does this weather affect the homeless in Nashville? How does the Nashville Rescue Mission and similar places handle their needs when it is this cold for so long?
This story is about how simple things can make a world of difference if you just ask.
An email or two to the Nashville Rescue Mission gave us something concrete to work towards. The list we got was daunting: hundreds of jeans, hundreds of warm gloves, boots, Triple XL coats and on and on it went. Once we got all the numbers we saw that even though we are a traditionally caring and responsive group, this need was way bigger than us. Almost 900 people each night being served at the Nashville Rescue Mission alone!
We contacted some of our local customers and asked them to partner with us to help meet this need. The response has been amazing! We also contacted some local area business to see if they would be willing to help, and twelve Nashville businesses responded graciously with lots of warm clothes.
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| Nashville Wraps employees packing boxes of clothes and shoes for the Nashville Rescue Mission. |
Through these combined efforts we’ve delivered 10-12 van loads of warm winter clothing, including 950 pairs of gloves to the Nashville Rescue Mission. These included individual clothing donations from all over Nashville and clothing purchased with cash donations.
Nashville Wraps has also been involved in raising money for Relay for Life, and for the past four years our employees go to Nashville’s Hope Lodge to provide a meal for the cancer patients and their families staying at the facility.
“I was so impressed with the interaction of the employees with those of us that are facing one of life’s toughest challenges – cancer. The servers (at Nashville’s Hope Lodge) were so genuinely concerned with each person as an individual…not just as a person with cancer. Their sincere efforts are a true testament to the type of employee you would find at Nashville Wraps,” says Karen Fisher of Hampton, Tenn.
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| Nashville Wraps employees serving a Christmas meal to Nashville Hope Lodge cancer patients and their families. |
We encourage you, if you are not already doing so, to give back to your community in some way, whether it’s a help organization like the Nashville Rescue Mission, your local schools and churches or international works like Haitian relief efforts.
Please take a moment to comment about your local charity work and how it’s changed your community. Note: This is not about bragging, but about encouraging others to go and do likewise.
Beverly Vaughn, Customer Care Center Supervisor
Read more about this story here: Nashville Rescue Mission.
I truly enjoyed the meal your employees provided at Hope Lodge this evening (June 17, 2010). The food was excellent and provided a comfort from home while I am away from my home fighting a battle against cancer. Even more comforting than the delicious home-cooked meal was the obvious compassion and concern shown by the people who brought and served this meal. Thank you all so very much for caring and, even more, for doing something that shows you care. My prayer is that God will bless each and every one of you.
One of the things we enjoyed as a side benefit to participating in this project was a new sense of connection with our neighbors, customers, and friends. We enjoyed corresponding via phone and email to coordinate and make pick up arrangements. Kevin and Greg had the pleasure of meeting several folks personally in the process of picking up the donations. That contact lends a special kind of cohesiveness to the effort, a bond of sorts. As a result we feel as if we’ve made new friends along the way as a bonus to raising awareness of the need and providing warm clothing. As we enjoy this beautiful sunny day we have much to be thankful for!
Beverly
I was really touched bythis article. I think it is awsome and by telling how it all came about is encouraging to others that there are people oit there who care and whike it takes a lot of effort, it is heartfelt by those that are in need. It’s not easy to be on the other side and while not nessessarily looking for a hand out, they received comfort and warmth by getting new or gently used warm clothing. Kudos to the President of Nashville Wraps and everyone involved that helped make it all happen!. It is a true inspiration!. Danette, PA