The Giving Spirit Lasts All Year at Guaranty
Throughout the course of the year Guaranty quietly donates to a wide variety of charity organizations in our community. It is important to Guaranty to donate to the local community because it is the local community that has made Guaranty a fixture for over fifty years. While there are a number of one time donation drives and fundraisers that Guaranty supports we have, over the years, developed some long standing traditions and relationships with the charitable organizations doing good here in our community.
St. Vincent De Paul
For the last thirteen years, and counting, Guaranty has collected socks and hand knit hats and donated them to St. Vincent De Paul. The number one request at homeless shelters is socks, and we have collected over Thirty Thousand pairs of socks and over One Thousand hand knit hats that keep the less fortunate among us a little more comfortable during the cold winter months.
Lane Blood Center
Blood is needed every two seconds, and one in seven people entering the hospital need blood. Donating blood is possibly the most important form of charity we at Guaranty participate in. The donations made of goods, services, or even money serve to improve the quality of life for the recipients, but blood is the gift of life itself. At least four times a year Guaranty welcomes the Lane Blood Mobile for donation drives that provide lifesaving blood and plasma to local hospitals and emergency response personnel. Those who donate do so for a variety of personal reasons, but most list the cookie as their favorite part of the experience.
Cosmos Bellotti Sports and Leadership Foundation
Through our sponsorship Guaranty has contributed $215,000 in cash and in-kind product donations to local non-profits and area schools over the last three years. The monetary benefits are readily apparent but there are benefits that are not as easily recognized. According to Mike Bellotti, “The program is designed to build integrity, teamwork and leadership in student athletes while they learn how to conduct themselves in a business environment.” Our partnership with the Cosmos Bellotti foundation not only provides better equipment and facilities for schools and non-profits, it may very well provide them with future leaders as well.
Junction City Local Aid
A truly local charity located at 210 6th Street in Junction City, Local Aid is a United Way agency as well as a partner food bank of FOOD for Lane County. Staffed by over seventy volunteers who log a minimum of six hundred and fifty service hours JCLA provides food for an average of 250 households per month and estimates that they help more than twenty percent of the Junction City School District population. Guaranty and our employees have donated almost sixteen hundred pounds of food and one thousand dollars to the good folks at Junction City Local Aid. This year Guaranty expanded our efforts and included gift tags on the Christmas tree in our Chevy Showroom. A very generous employee “bought” them all and added nearly three hundred dollars to Guaranty’s donation, bringing that total to just under thirteen hundred dollars this year.
Grandview Rehabilitation Home
The holidays can be a time of joy, but for many they can be depressing. Seniors often feel the effects of seasonal depression more than the population as a whole. It is not uncommon for the holiday season to bring painful memories of loved ones lost, the loss of family traditions, and the loss of independence that occurs when a senior is living in even the best residential facility. It is the thought that counts and simply being remembered during the holidays can go a long way to combat the blues. For many years now Guaranty has adopted residents at the Grandview Rehabilitation Home in Junction City and donated gifts specifically requested by the seniors who live there. Last year that totaled sixty-one hand wrapped gifts, and we are on track to surpass that number this year.
Lions Club
Did you know that in just about any home there is at least one pair of eyeglasses that are no longer being used? Did you know that the Lions Club has established a recycling program that brings those unused eyeglasses to low and mid-income families and seniors that can put them to use? There are donation boxes in many local locations and you can even donate by mail. The Lions rely on volunteers and community partners and Guaranty is proud to be one of those partners. We were fortunate enough to be able to donate eighty-nine pairs of eyeglasses this year and with the community’s help we have our sights set on breaking that record in the coming year.
Bags of Love
A new partner for Guaranty in 2017, but not a new community organization, Bags of Love provides necessities and comfort items to children who are in crisis due to neglect, abuse, poverty or homelessness. Each bag is customized for the age and gender of the child and includes a handmade quilt, stuffed animal, toiletries, and clothing, including a jacket/coat, PJs, socks, underwear, books/toys/games, and school supplies. Guaranty is at heart a family business and family values are the motivation behind many of our traditions, both long standing and new. While our nearly four hundred employees are fortunate enough to be able to provide for their own families we realize not all are so lucky. Children are unable to change their situation on their own, an uncomfortable position that can lead to anxiety and hopelessness. A Bag of Love acts a bit like a security blanket by providing a sense of security and hope as well as necessities the child can call their own. This year Guaranty donated three barrels of clothing and $500 for at risk youth. We look forward to this relationship lasting many years.
Guaranty Supports the Community Because the Community Supports Guaranty
Guaranty also sponsors annual community events like our Supper with Santa, which provides a free hot meal and a photo with Santa, Jordan Kent Skills Camps for local youth and we coordinate the annual Boy Scouts Troop 100 Golf Tournament Fundraiser. Guaranty also provides the use of cars, trucks, and RVs in support of non-profit fundraisers and events. We have even collected dozens of sock monkeys for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in conjunction with the Keith Urban fan club. Guaranty’s charitable contributions speak to the heart of our organization, and to the heart of our team. As our team grows so does our ability to give back to the community with new avenues and renewed enthusiasm to continue long standing traditions. Guaranty is proud to employ the type of people that realize a little help goes along way, both for less fortunate individuals as well as the community as a whole. Thank you for your support of Guaranty! Without you we could not support our community. Learn more about us here.
