In the spirit of giving this holiday season, Blue Link decided to organize a donation drive for Goodwill. Throughout the year and especially around the holidays, many businesses begin looking for opportunities to give back to their community and donate a portion of revenue to a charitable cause. Although many businesses tend to “think big” for this type of initiative, Blue Link recognized a simple opportunity to give back to the community that would have significant, positive affects.
In 2011, Goodwill had over 1.9 million transactions across their Ontario locations, the revenue of which went to the charity’s core mission – creating job opportunities for those people in the community who are faced with barriers to employment. Goodwill donations also provide benefits to those individuals that donate; forcing them to clean out their closets and donate instead of tossing perfectly good items. Goodwill accepts a wide variety of donation items – from clothing, toys and books to housewares and linens and donating items around the holiday season gives families who can not afford to spend a lot of money on gifts the opportunity to purchase quality, used items at a discounted price.
Blue Link employees were more than happy to participate in this donation drive in which we were able to collectively donate 7 bags and 1 box worth of items. Although Blue Link donates resources to other charities throughout the year, this initiative was a great way to get all employees involved.
Giving back to the community does not always have to be a huge ordeal, and sometimes it is the simplest things that can have the largest impact. The donation drive was made even easier by the fact that Goodwill takes the responsibility of organizing the pick-up of any donated items at no cost. Blue Link will definitely consider organizing a donation drive on an annual basis and we recommend that other companies consider doing this as well.
