This past holiday season was filled with many generous donations and gifts. We want to give special recognition to our neighboring businesses at Parkway One and Two for the huge outpouring of love they decided to give our students this year. Parkway One and Two reached out to us to let us know that the tenants and their employees were interested in hosting an Angel Tree that would benefit our YELLS families. This was a first for them and YELLS, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect.
Parkway One and Two went above and beyond in helping to coordinate this undertaking and make sure that each of our students was matched with a generous donor who purchased an item from our students’ wish lists. Employees from AmerisBank, The University Financing Foundation, Waste Management, and WellStar all participated in making the holidays extra bright for our families.
At the end of the collection period, we went to pick up the gifts. As we turned the corner, we were in awe of the mountain of gifts in front of us, all carefully wrapped in festive red bows. It was amazing to see how strangers who have never met our families were willing to be so selfless and generous in their gifts to our students. As we started looking through the gifts to figure out how to transport all of the goodies back to YELLS, we realized that most of these donors had purchased not one, but multiple items for each of our students. One of our students even received a bike! What a tremendous blessing this was!
Unfortunately, our staff have come accustomed to many of our families expressing just how tough times have been lately, and the holidays make that financial strain even more apparent. But the generosity of Parkway One and Two tenants and its employees made it a very merry Christmas for our families. Thank you to the tenants of Parkway One and Two and their employees for your big hearts and for choosing to support of our Franklin Gateway families!
