AD's Summer Giving Back Day: Together We Rise
Giving back is a joyful responsibility of AD, and a value we share with our members and supplier partners. AD Associates dedicate two days each year to volunteer in the local community. We call these events “AD Giving Back Days,” and they provide an exciting opportunity for associates to come together for a good cause. With the help of AD’s fundraising committee, corporate office fundraisers, and lots of preparation, we have been able to make each year more successful than the last. This year we raised over $9,000 to support our cause. AD partners with a different type of local organization each year in hopes that associates will find a cause that resonates with them.
For this year’s AD Giving Back Day, we volunteered with Together We Rise, a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of foster children in America. Often, foster youth find themselves forgotten and neglected by the public. Most kids in foster care carry their belongings using trash bags, and many foster teens have no means of transportation. Together We Rise provides thousands of foster youth across the country with new bicycles, college supplies, and suitcases to carry their belongings in.
AD Associates spent the day building bikes and assembling “sweet cases” - the duffle bags given to foster children by TWR. These 40 bikes and 50 sweet cases will be delivered to foster children in the Greater Philadelphia Area by The Children’s Choice – a social service agency which provides out-of-home care services for thousands of children and families. With additional funds raised, we were able to help reunite separated siblings at Disney World and provide back to school clothes for some of these foster youth.
“It amazes me how the small amount of time we (as a company) gave to Together We Rise resulted in such a huge impact for foster children,” says Caitlin Cocchi, Human Resources Generalist for AD. “When I think back to my childhood, and riding my bike with the other kids in my neighborhood, it breaks my heart to think that some of these children will not or have not experienced that same excitement and joy. Now, with our help, they will have their own bike to ride and hopefully get the opportunity to make the same memories. I left the event with a huge smile on my face knowing that I made a difference!”
AD takes pride in our ability to give back to those around us, and we are looking forward to our next Giving Back Day event!