This month, the HSAwareness team worked with HSA’s community outreach partner, Chicago Commons, to fulfill the holiday wish lists of ten local families-in-need. Selected families were asked to supply names, ages, and clothing sizes for each family member, as well as toy requests for each child. Once the wish lists were received, a team of volunteers, led by HSA senior vice president Josephine Thomas-Hoytt, collected monetary donations and began shopping. With considerable donations from both inside and outside of the company, the HSAwareness team purchased outfits for the children, as well as an assortment of toys and games, many of which incorporated the children’s favorite characters from movies and TV shows. Each family also received a box of microwave popcorn, movie-theater style popcorn bags, and the newly release​ d DVD ​Finding Dory for a family movie night.

In the end, the team wrapped and bagged gifts for ten families, totaling 29 individuals to be distributed at Chicago Commons’ Paulo Freire Family Center in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago. The Center ​serves to improve the math, language, emotional, and cognitive skills of local at-risk children from infancy to 12 years old.

HSA Commercial has previously worked with Chicago Commons on numerous projects and drives, for which the firm was recently named ​2016 Corporate Partner of the Year by the organization. Bob Smietana, HSA Commercial’s CEO, is a long-time governing board member of Chicago Commons.

The HSAwareness team would like to sincerely thank everyone who contributed to our holiday gift drive, and we look forward to working with all of our friends and colleagues to continue to make a difference in the lives of others through our future endeavors.