Colorado Real Estate Journal - September 16, 2015
A janitorial contractor, a property manager and an electrician walk into a downtown high rise. This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke; however, it is the scene in office buildings 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 possible 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 general 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 participating buildings, an average of 20,000 donations and assisting more than 12 charities with gifts for families and individuals in need. The Community Affairs Committee already started planning to make the 20th Annual Gift and Toy Drive the most successful to date. The 2015 Gift and Toy Drive will kick off the week of Nov. 16, when volunteers drop collection boxes off to participating buildings. The boxes are then expertly decorated by property management staff and set out in building lobbies, common areas and offices eager to be filled to the brim with donations. The Community Affairs Committee is hoping to receive an assortment of donations to meet the needs of the various 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 warming a heart this winter and making a difference in someone’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 property 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 participate 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 agrawet@masterklean.com or 303-753-6084 or the Denver Metro BOMA office at info@ denverboma.org or 303-838- 4870