Every August, Guardian celebrates Employee Appreciation Week. Each day of the week has a theme, and it serves as a fun way to let our team members know just how valued they are. One of the best ways to celebrate our team is by incorporating one of our core values of service into our celebration. This year, Thursday was Charity Day and each employee was encouraged to wear a specific shirt color to represent one of 10 organizations being honored.
The organizations this year were: E.A.T. South, Brantwood Children’s Home, Family Sunshine Center, Montgomery Area Council on Aging (MACOA), Habitat for Humanity, Service Dogs Alabama, That’s My Child, Butterfly Bridge, Heart to Heart of Montgomery, and Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless. In celebration of Charity Day, every organization represented received a $100 donation from Guardian, and the organization most represented credit union-wide received a $1,000 donation.
The winner for this year’s Employee Appreciation Week Charity Day is… Service Dogs Alabama (SDA)! SDA provides medical and psychiatric assistance dogs to children, adults, and veterans with disabilities, as well as facility dogs trained in intervention and behavior disruption for schools, courtrooms, and state departments where stress is prevalent. At all times, they have at least 50 dogs in training to ensure the wait-time for a service dog is less than 18 months. The average cost of a fully trained service dog is $30,000, and SDA ensures that individuals who need these dogs for life-changing assistance never pay this amount. We were thrilled to present them with a donation and even more thrilled to meet one of their dogs in training, Barrett. To see Barrett in action and performing some of his commands, visit our Instagram or Facebook. If you would like to learn more about Service Dogs Alabama and the work they do, click here. To "like" SDA on Facebook click here.
At Guardian, we believe in people helping people, and welcome every opportunity to highlight the incredible organizations in our communities that are making a difference. These 10 non-profits only represent a small number of organizations that continuously strive to serve and improve our communities. We hope that you will take this opportunity to learn more about these incredible organizations.
If you are looking for opportunities to volunteer in your area, please visit our volunteer finder by clicking here.