Simmons Hanly Conroy employees gave Santa a helping hand last week during the Simmons Employee Foundation’s Annual Adopt-A-Family program. Employees adopted 54 families through area shelters and bought them presents to put under their trees for Christmas. The gifts were wrapped and delivered Dec. 15 to area shelters who distributed the gifts to the corresponding families.
“Everyone deserves to have a happy holiday season,” said Amy Fair, SEF director and head of the firm’s Asbestos Medical Department. “It’s wonderful to see Simmons Hanly Conroy employees making sure families in our area are able to have one.”
This year’s event benefited five Riverbend Area shelters: the Alton Salvation Army, the Oasis Women’s Center in Alton, Children’s Home & Aid in Granite City, The Community Hope Center in Cottage Hills and the Madison County Advocacy Center in Wood River.
Each shelter provided the foundation with a wish list of requested items from the families. Gifts given included a bike, clothes, books, learning games, a basketball hoop and even a laptop for one lucky 14-year-old. The foundation also provided travel expenses for one family.
One shelter, the Madison County Advocacy Center in Wood River, requested only food for their families. As a result, the foundation donated 13 gift certificates for a holiday ham and other food items from the Godfrey Meat Market to the shelter.
To raise additional funds for the program, the foundation also held its annual Ugly Sweater Contest. This year’s winner was Dave Reubhausen who works as an investigator in the Asbestos Department. He donned a Christmas-themed vest, holiday garland and a plaid, musical hat clad with reindeer antlers. Dave’s prize was an ugly sweater trophy in the form of a silver tree and a $50 gift card, which he donated back to the foundation.
