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| Over 20 boxfuls of donations, sorted and ready to deliver! |
The Veterans Stand Down Donation Drive has come to a close, and DSS employees have brought in a good haul for veterans in need! With the items sorted into file boxes, we had 7 boxes of towels, 4 boxes of toiletries, 3 boxes of fleecy throw blankets, 1 box of thermals/sweats/hats, 1 box of shoes, 3 boxes of socks, 1 box of food, and 1 box of outerwear.
Thank you to every DSS employee who contributed, for helping our homeless and low-income veterans stay warm, clean and dry. Read on to find out about the awesome people at DSS who helped make this drive happen, what worked well for them, and what happens to the items now!
The drive could not have happened without the donation drive captains in each location, and the Facilities folks who helped coordinate or transport all those donation barrels and boxes. Specifically, a hearty thank you to Carolyn Robinson, Eva Ochoa, Frank Mejia, Heather Gardner, Irma Cabigas, James Manske, Lina Bickel, Margery Gallegos, Mario Velasco, Mark Contois, Mark Mosqueda, Molly Marino, Octavio Ochoa, Omulo Amoke, and Paul Nipper.
"I'm glad we collected lots of items," said Irma Cabigas, building captain for the Santa Maria WRC. Cabigas enthusiastically worked to make her building's participation a success, for example sending an all-building email to promote it. Meanwhile at Betteravia, third-floor captain Eva Ochoa offered her co-workers an additional way to participate. "We let them know we'd be doing some shopping and if they preferred to donate money, we'd take care of the shopping," she said. "We shared a couple of items that we thought would be of great use for our veterans, and were at a good value."
All items collected during the Donation Drive will be distributed at the Santa Barbara County Veterans Stand Down, which will take place October 21, 2017 at the Santa Maria Fairpark. The Stand Down event is open to all veterans, and particularly focused on helping homeless and low-income veterans. It is a terrific event, and there are several ways you can participate if you like. To learn more about this year's Stand Down, see this Intercom article.