People who know me well know that I'm not much for holidays. I find the rote and ritual is too often, well, rote. And insincere. As a friend of mine who shares my point of view said when asked why she wasn't getting a Christmas tree, "What's the point of buying a dead plant?"
Come to think of it, even people who don't know me well know that I am not a big fan of holidays.
But I know that I'm in a minority, and I know that the holiday season means a lot to most people. In particular, people who have a way harder road to walk than I can ever imagine often look to the holidays as a time when they can escape a bit and try to make a few days extra special for their family.
This year, the Mashery team got together and decided to do something special for a family who lacks the resources to make the holidays as special as the rest of ours. Through a friend who volunteers at an amazing program called the Tenderloin Childcare Center we learned about the Cervantes family. Initially a family of five, a couple months ago they added three more children to the mix when their three nieces moved in after the girls' father murdered their mother.
The TLC staff provided us with names, ages, sizes and preferences for each of the six kids and the parents, and the Mashery team went shopping. Today, we delivered a wonderful pile of presents - ranging from toys to clothes to kitchen appliances to gift cards to cash - to the TLC, who will pass them on to the Cervantes family. We loaded a taxi to the gills with presents, and I'm told that there were tears in the eyes of the TLC staff when the gifts were dropped off.
It's an honor to work with such warm, generous people. Despite the usual end-of-year rush (we also managed to sign several very nice new customers in the past week, and likely will close a couple more before year end), everyone found time to shop, wrap and give.
I wish everyone on the Mashery team (and our customers, vendors, partners and investors) a wonderful and joyous holiday season. Thanks for all you do. 2010 is going to be amazing!
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