Cityteam Chester’s 2014 Adopt a Family Program

Here at CardConnect, we’re getting in the holiday spirit—and not just with the tree in the reception area. For the second year in a row, CardConnect is participating in the Adopt a Family program for Cityteam Chester. The Greater Delaware Valley’s branch of Cityteam provides hot meals, shelter, and clothing to the homeless population of Philadelphia year-round. They also provide a recovery program for men with addiction problems, and assist low-income families by providing food and supplies for mothers.

The CardConnect holiday tree, decorated with a tag for every child we will be providing gift for through Cityteam Chester.

Cityteam Chester is a fantastic organization that has been serving the area for over 25 years, and each holiday season the Adopt a Family Program provides gifts to thousands of children in need.

So how does it work? Participants select a child (or children!) they’d like to sponsor, and receive their wish list. Then, they go shopping! Toys get delivered in time for the holidays and volunteers get to spread a little cheer.

CardConnect was made aware of the Adopt a Family Program last year through Chief Architect, Joe Summers. By partnering CardConnect with Cityteam, we were able to provide gifts to 50 children in need, and this year we’ve upped our goal to 60. Joe and his brother then volunteered to deliver the gifts to the families. Joe spoke a bit on the experience of distributing the gifts:

“It warmed our hearts seeing the joy on the faces of the parents when we walked up to their door with gifts. It brought smiles to our faces watching parents usher their kids away so as to not ruin the surprise…It makes me very thankful that programs like Adopt a Family exist and grateful that I have the opportunity to be a part of something so important.”

Joe thought the workplace would be an ideal venue for such a program, and he was right. Not only were we able to team up to help a great deal of families in need, but it brought joy to our office as well.

“I’ve seen employees going shopping as a team, laughter as they chat about what they wanted at that age, competition as they try to out-do each other in classic one-up-man-ship style, all as hidden ancillary benefits.”

Last year, Cityteam volunteers throughout Greater Philadelphia were able to provide toys and clothing for 2,772 children–that’s over 13,000 toys and over 300 bicycles! This year we’re hoping for even more.

Want to get your office involved with Adopt a Family or something similar? Talk to your HR department and volunteer to help raise awareness in the office and gather participants. And don’t forget you don’t have to stick to the holidays! People are in need year-round.

If your city has a local Cityteam chapter, you can also sign up here to volunteer your time.

We’ll leave you with a message from Joe:

“Just as we have all overcome obstacles in our lives, we have all needed help at one point or another. Programs like Adopt a Family offer that help during a time when families and children need it the most. I applaud the employees and management of CardConnect for their continued commitment and encourage others to get involved. You may end up feeling like you get more than you give.”