Each year at Christmas time, Motiva employees participate in the Giving Tree Program, which enables an underprivileged child at one of our Partner In Education schools to receive presents for Christmas. This year, the program succeeded in a whole new way. Instead of helping just one child in the family, we decided to make Christmas brighter for the entire family.
New Sarpy Kindergarten Center provided Motiva with the names, ages, sizes and gift ideas for each of the 10 families the company adopted. This included information on mom and dad as well as the children. The families varied from a household of three children to one including seven kids.
In order to maintain confidentiality, the names of the individuals in each family were not distributed. Instead, each family and individual was assigned a number, which volunteers placed on the presents to identify for whom the present was meant.
Administrative Assistant Debbie Weber said this program helped renew her Christmas spirit. “My whole family thoroughly got into the Christmas spirit. My husband and my daughter helped me shop, wrap the presents and put the toys together —with batteries. We managed to get so much for this family —- their Christmas will truly be great because of Motiva employees’ generosity,” explained Weber.
With all the presents collected, Motiva volunteers wrapped, sorted and delivered them to the center where parents claimed them. Volunteer Katrina Levron was at the Kindergarten Center on the morning of the present distribution assisting Kimberly Windon with last minute labeling of presents.
Levron recalls, “Seeing one mother in the hallway after she received her gifts, you could almost see the tears well up in her eyes. I’m sure people that received these gifts were those that truly are in need and have never been a recipient of such generosity as shown by Motiva employees through this program. I know that the mother I saw was certainly appreciative of what she received.”
“It was amazing to see the gifts employees purchased for these families. To see how many bikes, books, scooters, CD players, helmets and other items were waiting for these 10 families was stunning,” Windon said. “The surprise on the parents’ faces when they received the presents was one of pure disbelief and such joy that it’s something I won’t soon forget.”
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