WCP Gives Back
In October of 2013, Dave Theobald, president of Washington Commercial Painters announced the company was setting aside a lump sum of money to be used over the months leading up to Christmas for the express purpose of finding and meeting the needs in the local communities where our company does business. Any employee could request funds for any cause they felt worthy of supporting. EVERY REQUEST MADE WAS HONORED and hundreds of people’s lives were blessed due to Dave’s generosity.
In Pleasanton, CA, that included supporting a Valley View family who lost everything in an apartment fire; a contribution to Doctors Without Borders on behalf of Kristina Chesterman, a Livermore, CA teen killed by a drunk driver; support for 2 women for a year at Shepherd’s Gate; financial support for Team Delaney, a two year old in Livermore battling brain cancer as well as several employees who gave blood in her honor; a contribution to Pleasanton resident and crime victim David Lamont; and the purchase of bikes for 6 Alameda County foster care teens in our valley enabling them to get to work and support themselves as they prepared to age out of foster care.
Furthermore, in Northern California and then across the country we supported several East Oakland families known by our employees, enabling them to have Christmas; a homeless family in Bay Point; Agape Villages based in San Ramon; Sacramento Children’s Home; we provided financial support to a struggling family in Charlotte, North Carolina; we purchased 600 pairs of socks for the homeless through Friends Ministry in Ohio; we made a contribution to the educational program at Boys and Girls Country in Houston, Texas; we donated paint for “Pat’s Place” in support of Turner Construction’s charitable project; we made a sizable donation to “Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center” through Swinerton Construction’s Fall Challenge in Washington State; we helped with an adopt a family challenge in Portland, Oregon; we donated to Angel Tree in Texas to provide gifts to children of imprisoned parents; and Operation Military Embrace in Houston, Texas.
In addition to these awesome opportunities, others that personally touched our employees included donating money and gift cards to the friends, family and neighbors of co-workers battling various cancers and others struggling to provide groceries and Christmas gifts for their families. We also supported friends in their own charitable efforts including the Susan G Komen 3-Day Walk.
It has truly been a season of “WCP Giving Back.” Although hundreds of lives were touched around the country by the generosity of our owner, our employees lives may have been more impacted as they received the good feeling and satisfaction that comes from delivering money, gift cards, support and smiles to those in need in their local communities. The impact on our employees will carry forward into 2014 and beyond as we all continue to seek out opportunities to help find and meet needs of those all around us. We are blessed to work for a company whose owner’s heart is to serve and give back in recognition for all the blessings and opportunities he has been given through the business.