We’ve all heard the proverbial expression, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In today’s secular, commercialized world of Christmas, it’s easy to get lost in the true reason for the season and to act upon these words that the Apostle Paul attributes to Jesus Christ himself in Acts 20:35 NIV.
In keeping with this tradition in the holiest of seasons, Garmann Miller’s Game Changers—a volunteer group of GM team members—led an office-wide toy drive to benefit Our Home Family Resource Center’s Angel Tree program. An important function of Our Home is to provide a central entry point through which people in Mercer County, Ohio, can receive support during times of need.
“We wanted to play a small part in bringing some joy to area families this Christmas,” said Eric Baltzell, CEO at Garmann Miller, who is a Celina native and member of Our Home’s Board of Directors.
Each year, the Angel Tree program provides nearly 2,500 gifts to more than 800 income-eligible families with children 12 years old and younger. Our Home credits the incredible support of its area communities to making this possible. Volunteers of the Celina-based non-profit create gift tags from the applications, and Angels, like the Game Changers, purchase items that are displayed on Angel Tree Shopping Days, during which parents come to select gifts for their children.
According to Our Home, this is the real holiday magic of Angel Tree, when parents have the opportunity to actively engage in the selection of gifts, ones of which they know their kids will enjoy.
The Game Changers provided gifts for 24 children with some having multiple items for one tag. The group also concurrently managed a Secret Santa program, during which GM employees donated dollars and nominated people to receive collected funds to help make Christmas a bit brighter this year.
Garmann Miller dedicates eight hours per employee of paid volunteer time annually—that equates to approximately 500 hours of giving back to the communities we serve. Collectively, through the Game Changers initiative, the GM team provides volunteer time, talent and treasure to more than 100 philanthropic, educational and not-for-profit organizations.
To learn more about Our Home Family Resource and how to support its mission and programs, visit their Facebook page.