What better way to share your values with your family, your friends and co-workers than volunteering after work? Our friends at Partners Insurance are sponsoring a series of after work Volunteer Evenings! Please join us if you can!
Matthew and Lily
We literally were overwhelmed with a huge donation of great new toys and other items on Saturday from FOUR year-olds, Lily and Matthew.
We work everyday at receiving donations from some very remarkable people, lots of them children, but this donation was overwhelming for us. It was overwhelming not only for the volume of the things we received but for how and why they came to us. We were so busy the day they arrived we really didn’t get to hear the whole story. We emailed their mother and asked for details. What we got back was the best email in recent memory.
Read More »
Kayla Smith, Flavia Miranda, Adrienne DePina, India Santiago, Sabine Charles, Anitra Alves, Alianah Grajales, Sofia Dias, Diana Jesus, Rylee Nogueira, Natasha Ferro and Martha Kay. (Not in order)
Two amazing women; Natasha Ferro and Martha Kay have been mentoring groups of middle school girls, after school, since 2012 at the Normandin Middle School.
“The Sorority” morphed into a Youth Philanthropy Group this year and with the guidance of Natasha and Martha their young women focused on issues that concerned them. In the beginning of the school year, they brainstormed a list of needs within our community and settled on animal abuse, domestic violence, gang activity, and homelessness.
This week they made a presentation to the Greater New Bedford Homeless Providers Network. Their speech was inspiring as was their work. Their speech defines the work they’ve done, please read it.
Read More »
Nathan Turner receives the Gold Presidential Service Award
Nathan Turner is not your average young man. Nathan was acknowledged by President Obama for the President’s, Gold Volunteer Service Award.
Nathan has completed over 3,000 hours of volunteer community service. We’re so proud of Nathan. Nathan is a Junior at New Bedford High School and has been volunteering with us since he was in the 6th grade at the Roosevelt Middle School.
Jim Stevens, CEO and Founder of GiftsToGive said “ Nathan inspires us to do more and to be better. He is truly a bright and shining light and a most perfect example of giving and service. When we talk about young people making a difference, we talk about Nathan Turner!”
The New Bedford City Council honored Nathan on January 22 (See video below)
Read More »
CamRon Frazier receives the Presidential Service Award!
What does the President of the United States and Sophomore, CamRon Frazier have in common?
Last Saturday night, at our First Annual “Rising Tide” event, we awarded New Bedford High School Sophomore CamRon Frazier, the Presidential Service Award.
Read More »Every once in-a-while, we’re flabbergasted and we don’t flabbergast easily!
Nicole Long, one of our earliest adopters wrote last week – “SO PROUD of my niece Abby and her cousin Georgia: over Christmas vacation they brainstormed a charitable organization called “GAB” and collected over $100 in one weekend to help people less fortunate. This morning, Abby gave me the money… (Which is being matched by their Grandmother Blair!) to deliver to GiftsToGive and I can’t think of a more beautiful start to a new year. Love these girls and their giant hearts.”
Yesterday, we met a most remarkable group of students from the Freetown Lakeville Middle School, Friends Of Rachel Club.
Rachel Scott was the first student killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Darrell Scott, Rachel’s father, established Rachel’s Challenge to perpetuate his daughter’s example and the two-page “Code of Ethics” she wrote a month before her death. The organization’s mission is to “motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people”. The Rachel’s Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign’s goals on a long-term basis. Schools around the country have incorporated Rachel’s challenge into their own clubs bringing the message to their students.
Read More »
What do Bishop Stang Students know that other students might not?
On a very rainy and cold Saturday morning sixteen Bishop Stang High School Students chose to make a difference. Their gift of donations and time will help over 50 local children, many of them homeless and all of them living in poverty!
Photos from our day are here.
Student Hallie Manchester had this to say about their visit – ” I woke up on Saturday at 7:30 to drive to Stang, where a medium sized group of us would meet before spending the day at GiftsToGive in New Bedford. Unsure of what to expect, I went through my normal morning routine and got breakfast with two of my friends who would be with me all day. When the three of us got to Stang, we went into one of the administration offices where there was a large amount of donated objects from clothes to children’s toys. As we loaded the bags and boxes into our cars, we were feeling anxious and wondered what this place was going to be like. We all were groggy and tired yet excited to be having the opportunity to help others.
Read More »
Hannah McGuire is a 13 year old student at the Freetown-Lakeville Middle school. She’s also a philanthropist!
4 Year Old Austa Shares Her Birthday Presents
Four year-old Austa taught us a thing or two about sharing!
Hadleigh and Braelyn
The longest journey begins with a single step. The first step in this story started with an email from Carolyn, Hadleigh and Braelyn’s mom – “On 1/19 my daughters are turning 8 and 10. I am interested in having them and some friends volunteer at GiftsToGive as part of their party on 1/18. I see stories of kids that had friends bring presents to donate instead of birthday presents for them, could the girls and their guests also volunteer their time?”
Carolyn sent a follow-up email after the girls’ visit – “As parents, we try our best to teach our daughters about being thankful for their blessings and look for opportunities to give back to those in need.”
Read More »
Other photos HERE
It’s one thing for us to talk about what we do, it is entirely a better thing when a student volunteer talks about their experience. We are so proud of the students from Cardinal Spellman, and even prouder, if that is possible, of Charli.
Changing Lives One Gift at a Time.
By: Charli Carey
My name is Charli Carey, and I am currently a junior at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton. While preparing for our annual service day, several of my classmates and I struggled with the decision of which service site to volunteer at. Last year, as a sophomore, I volunteered at GiftsToGive, and knew that I wanted to volunteer there again, this time as a junior. I spoke with several of my classmates about what they were expecting when they volunteered to serve at GiftsToGive.
Read More »
