By Don Descoteau
Victoria News
October 16, 2008
You have to admit, as corporate donations go, it was rather unique.
Yet the purchase of a full-sized standup washer and dryer set for George Jay elementary school by The Hudson developer Townline Group fulfilled a real need.
The school has a “parent room” where donated clothing is stored, but it generally falls upon members of the parent advisory council to take the clothing home and wash it before it gets passed along to families in need, said George Jay principal Kathy Upton.
“Now when things come in, we can just wash them and get them into the parent room more quickly,”she said, noting that some families in the school don’t have ready access to laundry equipment.
Then there’s team shirts, linens from the school’s hot lunch program, and of course with winter coming, puddle weather.
“For kids that get into mud or need to change, we can just throw their dirty clothes into the washer,” Upton said.
With the stockpile of clothes on hand, it’s likely no child will have to sit in class with wet clothing on.
“It will be used constantly. This is huge,” Upton said.
While the appliances were delivered to their final home in the school’s boiler room last week, students are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Townline’s previous donation, a seaquarium designed to house live indigenous marine species.
In both instances, the company came to the school and asked what it could use, rather than simply handing over a cash donation.
“Townline knows how important it is to give back to the community,” said Tracy Menzies, sales manager for The Hudson.
“We wanted to identify the need, meet our neighbours and see what we can do to help out.”
The donation was the first part of a busy weekend of giving for the Vancouver-based company, which is redeveloping the former Hudson Bay building downtown into a residential-commercial complex.
On Thanksgiving Day, representatives carted $2,500 worth of new socks and underwear down to Our Place, which facilitated their donation to homeless people and others in need.
Also announced was a $2,500 donation to the Burnside-Gorge Community Association for its outreach programs. The money is being earmarked by the association to stock its parenting classes with supplies, as well as to help purchase things like cribs, car seats or children’s medicine for families in need.
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