September 16-October 6, 2015 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 15B
Spotlight
janitorial contractor, a
property manager and
an electrician walk
into a downtown high
rise. This sounds like the begin-
ning of a bad joke; however,
it is the scene in office build-
ings throughout the Denver
metro area in December during
BOMA’s Annual Gift and Toy
Drive. This year is a landmark
year for the drive, marking the
20th anniversary of Denver
Metro BOMA’s efforts to help
the community.
BOMA’s contribution to
the community is made pos-
sible by the volunteers in the
Community Affairs Committee.
This group of vendors and
property managers dedicate
their time, energy and hearts
to planning volunteer events in
the Denver area. 2015 started
with a workday consisting of
painting, landscaping and gen-
eral cleaning for Mount Saint
Vincent Home and will end
with the Gift and Toy Drive.
The BOMA Gift and Toy
Drive originally started as a
small collection of buildings in
the Denver area gathering a
few hundred items for charity
organizations. Over the past 20
years it has flourished into one
of Colorado’s largest gift and
toy drives with over 100 partici-
pating buildings, an average of
20,000 donations and assisting
more than 12 charities with
gifts for families and individu-
als in need.
The Community Affairs
Committee already started
planning to make the 20th
Annual Gift and Toy Drive the
most success-
ful to date.
The 2015
Gift and Toy
Drive will
kick off the
week of Nov.
16, when vol-
unteers drop
collection
boxes off to
participating
buildings.
The boxes are
then expertly
decorated by
property management staff and
set out in building lobbies, com-
mon areas and offices eager to
be filled to the brim with dona-
tions.
The Community Affairs
Committee is hoping to receive
an assortment of donations
to meet the needs of the vari-
ous charities. Common items
that are needed include winter
clothing, toys, personal care
items, blankets, cash, gift cards,
sports equipment and teenage
gift items. Whether it is a pair
of gloves or a brand new bike,
every gift counts toward warm-
ing a heart this winter and
making a difference in some-
one’s life.
The culture of charity among
the Denver Metro BOMA
association truly can be seen
in December when over 100
people get together to collect
and sort the gifts and toys.
Volunteers from BOMA’s
membership, a mix of prop-
erty management and vendor
organizations, along with the
BOMA staff, start showing up
at the distribution center at
6:30 a.m., coffee in hand, to
begin sorting the more than
20,000 toys. Charities include
Mount Saint Vincent’s Home,
Denver Children’s Home,
Center for Work Education and
Employment, Champa House,
Colorado Coalition for the
Homeless, The Delores Project,
Denver Children’s Advocacy
Center, Father Woody’s
Gateway Women’s Center,
Jeffco Action Center, SafeHouse
Denver and Visiting Nurses
Association. The drive has been
so successful in past years that
last-minute charity requests
and individual requests for help
also have been fulfilled.
In order to meet our goal
of 25,000 items we need your
help. Please sign up to partici-
pate in the 20th Annual BOMA
Gift and Toy Drive. Buildings
can sign up as a collection
site and individuals can find
out where to donate toys by
contacting Alana Grawet with
Master Klean Janitorial Inc.
at
or 303-753-6084 or the Denver
Metro BOMA office at info@
denverboma.org or 303-838-
4870.
A
Alana
Grawet
Master Klean
Janitorial Inc.
