Every year, Saphire Event Group puts the call out to anyone in the area surrounding our venues to nominate a family who may be in need of a little extra holiday cheer. After receiving numerous submissions of some amazing local families, four were selected to be the recipients of our annual SEG Gives Back Program (now in its third year), a charitable initiative that provides each of the chosen families with $500 worth of gifts for the holiday season.
Now that the presents are put away and the holiday decor is starting to come down, we thought it would be a great time to share a recap of our experience with SEG Gives Back 2017!
Our employees kicked off the day’s events enjoying a team-building breakfast in the morning. As you can see we were quite the crew in our matching shirts!
After breakfast, we set out on a mission: to provide these four very deserving families with the best holiday celebration ever! Each family had sent in their wish lists in advance, so the SEG staff split up into teams and took to the aisles of our local Target store to make sure that each family member got something they wanted this year. We had the best time selecting gifts for everyone – in fact, many of our employees felt like kids themselves scouring the aisles for the perfect presents!
After checking out with lots of great gift finds, the SEG team headed back to our own little Santa’s workshop (otherwise known as the Saphire Estate ballroom) for an afternoon of wrapping, holiday music, and a little team bonding while preparing all of the gifts to be delivered to the families.
After the presents were wrapped, it was time to deliver them to the recipients. While our staff wasn’t able to meet all of the family members that were on the receiving end of our efforts (we wanted there to still be an element of surprise for our littlest benefactors!), we were humbled to receive some followup messages from our families after the holidays were over to hear how they enjoyed their gifts:
Family #1:
“Thank you so much for all that you and your team do, first of all. The gifts were amazing and the kids loved every bit! You guys truly went above and beyond. Please pass on to your team that what you are doing is so important, and means so much to the families that you touch. It is much more than receiving gifts from caring strangers. It is love, caring, compassion, and selflessness wrapped in a box and delivered with hope of a brighter future. God bless you and all who have participated in giving back. You have done more than you ever could know. We would like to wish you all a happy and healthy new year!”
Family #2:
“The girls had a great Christmas and loved everything! I just want to say thank you to everyone for what you’ve done. I really don’t know what I would have done without the help. The girls were very happy and it’s so nice to know there is still good in the world. It is amazing what you guys do!”
Family #3:
“I really appreciated the gifts being bought and wrapped for the kids. Even with online shopping this is a challenging task for me. This program is one of the many things we love about the area. We have some of the best programs taking care of residents and the most thoughtful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. It makes difficult times a little less stressful.”
Family #4:
“The minute I got the phone call that our family had been nominated, I was overwhelmed to know that there are really good people out there who want to help others; people they don’t even know. I wish I could personally thank you all and that I could put into words just how grateful I was for you for donating your time, shopping & wrapping. Thank you for your generosity, your compassion, thoughtfulness!”
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination for this year’s program. Want to nominate a family for the 2018 SEG Gives Back charitable initiative? Click here to learn more!
