What happens when 40% of The Admiral’s residents clean out their closets, cabinets and storage spaces?
A lot of donations and a lot of happy faces.
Every couple of years, residents come together for Give & Take, a three-day event where residents donate quality items they no longer need and Admiral staff have the opportunity to take something home for free. Formerly known as “Trash to Treasure,” the event has been going strong for about five years.
There’s plenty of work behind those three days. Committee leaders Dianne Bowman and Kathy Devaney organize the event, with 50 resident volunteers helping collect, sort and organize donations into 15 categories. Furniture, office supplies, children’s games and toys, jewelry, electronics, seasonal decorations and plenty of other household items all make an appearance.
The volume of donations is impressive. Volunteers spend days sorting and organizing everything, then regroup each evening to prepare for the next group of staff. By the end of the three days, there’s surprisingly little left.
Staff participation is just as impressive, with about 80% of Admiral staff typically taking part.
For Dianne, the best part is simple:
Seeing the happy faces from both the staff and residents.
Kathy says the event is also special because it brings so many residents and staff together in one place. Give & Take is a chance for residents to give something back to the staff who are such an important part of daily life at The Admiral.
This event is FOR Admiral staff, Dianne says.
And the generosity continues after the tables are cleared. Whatever remains is donated to Howard Brown in Andersonville, giving those items another opportunity to be useful.
Give & Take is a simple idea, but it captures something meaningful about life at The Admiral: residents and staff sharing what they have, giving back and strengthening the sense of community that makes The Admiral feel like home.