‘Tis the season for family, fun, and getting one or two of those toys we’ve really wanted all year long. It’s also the time to do a little giving back, which is why, when we at GeekDad were approached by AT&T to be part of their Spread the Cheer campaign, we decided to jump in with both feet.
The campaign started with AT&T asking their own employees what they would do if they had the money to spread some cheer in their local communities this holiday season, and then they picked some of the best ideas and made them happen. As you can see in these videos, the campaign was a huge success, and brought holiday cheer to foster kids and seniors, needy families and shelter animals.
But that was just the start. AT&T decided to expand the campaign, and approach a few bloggers to get them to help spread the words and Spread the Cheer in their communities, and GeekDad was one of the lucky blogs. As part of a sponsored campaign, we were given $500 in gift cards to use in our community. But it didn’t seem quite right to just use someone else’s money, so GeekDad decided to match the amount. With that $1,000 we made donations to two worthy groups in our community.
The first is the Giving Hope program, overseen by the City of Fremont’s Human Services department. The program is “dedicated to aiding needy families, children, and frail isolated seniors along with their pet companions by bringing them holiday cheer.”
The second, and the one that was most fun to actually execute, was giving $500 worth of petfood and toys to the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Fremont, CA. I went to our local Pet Smart, and pretty much filled a cart with kibble, canned food, and toys.
The folks at the shelter were thrilled with the haul, and it was great to be able to Spread the Cheer to this facility, from where we adopted one of our two current furry kids.
We’re grateful to AT&T for this excellent program and including GeekDad in it. If you do something special to give back to your community over the holidays (or any time), let us know about it in the comments below, or tweet it at us (@GeekDads) and @ATT, and use the hashtag #SpreadTheCheer so other people can get ideas about how they, too, can Spread the Cheer!
