Every year for the last eight years, Bramble Berry has adopted families through the Salvation Army. Our staff donate their time after work to pick out perfect Secret Santa gifts and Bramble Berry donates our dollars. For 2007, Bramble Berry donated over 5% of our profits to various non-profits, both local and national. Bramble Berry’s social responsibility statement can be found here. One of our values at Bramble Berry is “Be Socially Responsible,” and another is “Be Kind to our Employees and Customers.” The Secret Santa Shopping trip meets both of those criteria. This year we had 17 people on our Christmas Secret Santa list.
That’s Amber (customer service and marketing) handing out lists for shoppers. Andrew (on the right) got 2 boys, ages 6 and 8. Andrew packs most of the Bramble Berry orders and has been at Bramble Berry for over two years.
This is Jess (from the Pouring Area) looking dubiously down at the shopping cart and comparing it to her list. She’s wondering if the gifts are exactly perfect for her Secret Santa person. Jess had a Mom who wanted a nightgown and new towels. Joanna (on the right, works in the Shipping Area) is wearing a hat she knitted herself. She has a small business selling her knitwear on Etsy. Click here to go see her shop. Her hand-knitted hats are just $15.
With 17 people on our list, we had quite a few full carts but thanks to Amber’s extreme organization, the shopping was done in record time – two hours. The sorting of the gifts to deliver to the Salvation Army took a bit longer. There were a lot of bags filled with gifts.
It took almost 45 minutes to check out. The poor clerk was very shocked when our entire 13 cart caravan showed up at her lane. The manager of the Bakerview Fred Meyers shut down the lane for our purchase (thanks Larry!). Because of Amber’s Mom’s crafty coupon sleuthing (that’s her in the red coat in the top photo), we saved 15% on all of the clothes and 10% on all of the toys. With the savings, we were able to buy extra big gift cards for the food portion of the gift. Hopefully they will be spent on a bountiful Christmas dinner (and beyond). The receipt that came out of the printer was literally over 2 feet long. I was thrilled to swipe the credit card for the donation.
This holiday season, all of us at Bramble Berry, Otion & Organic Fusion are grateful for the abundant blessings of the 2007. Here’s to a successful, joyous and delightful 2008!
Hi Michelle –
Don’t feel bad about tearing up. Naming no names, one employee cried during check-out because she was so overwhelmed by the experience. And, one of my male employees teared up as well.
It was such a great experience – I can hardly wait to do it again next year. =)
I love companies who give back so much! And thanks for the reminder that my kids still haven’t made their holiday donations yet… 🙂
Very nice, very nice.
The organization and work that went into this is very impressive. What a team!
That’s awesome. I bet your staff appreciate all of that altruism as well. It sets a good example. Merry Christmas!
Love it! Happy Holidays!
Sounds like so much fun. Wish I could’ve been there. Keep up the blessings!
Oh this is tooooo cool! I am a crybaby all the time and this story did it for me. You all must have had so much fun.
We try to pick a couple of children from the angel trees and my daughter and I love to go shopping for them. We have been blessed in our lives and we try to share when we can, be it an angel or money in the Salvation Army can at the store.
You have a great company Anne-Marie.
Michelle in NV