Giving Back While Growing Together

RBA Continues to Volunteer Time at Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation

Read what one RBA team member had to say about her first-hand experience volunteering with CCRF…

Walking up to the building that hosts the CCRF headquarters, I could tell this was going to be a great experience. As you enter the front of the building you are greeted by a pristine reception area which displays the foundation’s core values. I was able to familiarize myself with the organization by first taking a tour of the facility. The office-type environment ultimately leads to a very well organized warehouse that stores mostly children’s toys, crafts, books and stuffed animals. I was in awe of the magnitude of this operation that mainly runs by the help of volunteers!

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so it was a bonus that the warehouse space had its back doors lifted to allow for a nice spring breeze to enter the space. There was a main table set up with a sign that said “RBA” surrounded by three different stations for mailing out thank you notes. I also noticed an entire room filled with empty boxes and the overwhelming number of children’s toys. I was eager to find out what we would actually be doing that day!

As other employees and their families began to filter into the warehouse, you could tell morale was high and everyone was excited to be there for this event. We were given our first task which was to go “shopping” in the warehouse and pull toys to send to specific children. Each child requesting a toy, who had been diagnosed with cancer, had their own paper with details about their age, gender and what toys they might like. From there, we had the pleasure of pulling a variety of items we thought would brighten their day the most. It goes without saying that we tried to go above and beyond their expectations!

After all the lists were fulfilled, the RBA volunteers sent out a total of 11 different boxes to 10 different states across the country. It was such a neat experience to know that the thought we put into these gifts would be appreciated from coast to coast!

Another mass undertaking that the RBA team completed was stuffing mailers for donor “thank you” letters. CCRF relies mostly on large, cooperate donations to help fund their operations so this was a very important task to properly thank them and encourage their continued support. Though this took quite a bit of time, it was nice to see fellow team members turning this into a fun memory by talking with one another, making jokes and socializing.

The final task asked of us for the day really got us engaged! We were asked to carry an office full of items out onto the warehouse floor. We were very curious as to what the vast and varied items were going to be used for. I saw paintings, purses and antiques just to name a few. Our CCRF host explained that the items were all donations from a thrift store of things that didn’t sell over a period of time. The donations were the now the property of the foundation’s to do with what they like, so they decided to host a yard sale and put the profits back into the organization. The RBA volunteers helped with cleaning up the items and pricing them for the upcoming yard sale. What a great idea!

Overall, it was a fun and uplifting day. I look forward to seeing what other events are in store for us as RBA continues to help CCRF on an ongoing basis through 2016. It’s safe to say everyone had a great time volunteering their Sunday afternoon at CCRF and spending time with fellow co-workers and their families all while helping give back to the community!