by Calvin Smith
Every month, it’s important to the members of Aragon that we give back to our surrounding communities. In September, we delivered food, toys, and other necessities to the Santa Clara Animal Shelter. In October, we donated canned goods to our local food pantry. In November, Team Aragon prepared, cooked, and served hot meals to residents at the Stanford Ronald McDonald House. And to end 2019, we partnered with St. Catherine’s Church (Morgan Hill) and their Adopt a Family program to spread some holiday cheer by wrapping and delivering gifts to families in need.
This blog will recap our December Aragon Cares activity and provide a sneak peek into some of our volunteer efforts coming later this year.
Wrapping Gifts For Adopt a Family Program
This past December, Aragon was fortunate enough to be assigned two local families to provide for. Each member of the family submitted a gift wish list and we did our best to fulfill these wishes. The Adopt a Family program is designed to spread joy to families who are in need and provide them with gifts and necessities during the holiday season. Aragon wrapped fun gifts like toys, games, and cool shoes. In addition, St. Catherine’s Church also strives to provide each family with the gift of a meal or gift card to help offset the cost of food for the parents.
If you’re familiar with Aragon, you know by now that ‘Transform’ is a prominent theme that we stand by. You may have read about or even attended our year-end event, Aragon Transform, or perhaps you have been an audience member for our Transform Tour which features three briefings (2 in San Francisco, 1 in Boston). When it comes to ‘Aragon Cares’, we do not deviate from our ‘Transform’ theme. Thus, when the time arrived to wrap gifts for our December Aragon Cares activity, we transformed our Morgan Hill conference room into a gift wrapping center.
I think the best way to visualize this transformation is to recall the scene from the movie The Santa Clause. Tim Allen (Santa Claus) is transported to the North Pole after putting on the Santa suit, and when he arrives, he is subjected to a state of pandemonium where all of the North Pole elves are scrambling to get things ready for Christmas. Well, I’d like to think that’s what our wrapping room looked like—maybe a little less chaotic.
Aragon Cares in 2020
We are excited to announce that we have finalized our Aragon Cares 2020 calendar. There are so many wonderful organizations that we are looking forward to partnering with this coming year. Take a look at some of our upcoming volunteer activities:
January: Stars of Hope
To kick off the new year, Aragon will be partnering with the Stars of Hope organization to send positive thoughts and care to those who have been affected by natural disaster.
April: Virtual Runs
Team Aragon will test their fitness skills as we partner with Virtual Runs to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. We will be completing a timed virtual 1 mile, 5k, or 10k to raise awareness. Stay tuned as members of Aragon will be live streaming their journey on Twitter.
June: Ronald McDonald House Stanford
Aragon is proud to return to the Stanford Ronald McDonald House to prepare, cook, and serve hot meals to residents. You can check out the recap blog from our 2019 visit.
December: St. Catherine’s Church (Adopt a Family)
Team Aragon will be doing their part to spread some holiday cheer. We look forward to once again, transforming our conference room into the Aragon gift-wrapping center in December.
Bottom Line
Aragon Cares and our monthly efforts to give back to our surrounding communities is something that we do not take for granted. We recognize that Silicon Valley is home to many wonderful and impactful organizations. We are proud to partner with these organizations and donate our time and resources to those who are in need. If you’d like to learn more about our efforts, you can visit the Aragon Cares page.