By Yolanda
Person-Collins

From early November till late December, our Yahoo! Burbank office organized “Frozen Turkey Drive” donations for Thanksgiving as well as Non-Perishable Food, Toys and Socks drives during the Christmas season as part of their efforts to support the local communities.

Our Thanksgiving drive is mainly to support the Burbank Temporary AID Center (BTAC). Thanks to the generosity of our employees, we surpassed donations from 2011 and provided BTAC with close to $1000 as a new record! We were also able to donate 382 non-perishable food items to BTAC to help feed local, needy families.

“Socks are the most requested article of clothing from homeless people,” says Rondo Mieczkowski, who dropped them off to the non-profit Under The Bridges and On The Streets. “The donation helped keep a lot of needy people warm into the New Year.” All together, 158 pairs of socks were donated, as well as a generous, but anonymous, $100 cash donation. Thanks to a 30% off coupon, that $100 was used to purchase an additional 114 pairs, bringing the total number of pairs of socks donated to 272, a new record! 

The toys were distributed by the Burbank Fire Department, in collaboration with the BTAC and the Family Service Agency. The agencies screened local families for need and worked hard to make sure the right toy got to the right child. We received 129 toys from our employees while another $100 anonymous donation was used to purchase additional toys.

A total of 37 thank you cards were collected and sent to the United Service Organizations (USO). Cards were included in USO Care Packages sent to active members of our Armed Forces, as well as veterans in hospitals and nursing homes. The cutest cards were those created by children of Burbank Yahoos, of course!

We are very proud that we as a company can give back to our local communities through the annual Winter Holiday Drives. We are also very thankful to our employees who helped improve the lives of many people!