The Gift Exchange

Wo-He-Lo (That’s the Camp Fire Greeting and is from the beginning of the words Work, Health, Love)

We just finished creating over 40 gifts for the Camp Fire USA “Blue Jeans and BBQ” auction which is to be held at Camp Namanu on August 2nd. We had great fun taking all the donated gifts and putting them together with our gift baskets, keepsake containers, spa products, gourmet foods, wines, baby items, Burts Bees products, ribbons, etc. Some of the gifts available for bidding include travel, fabulous dinners, family fun excursions, theater tickets, sporting events and spa packages. One can even bid on a free flying lesson!

GiftTree wishes Camp Fire USA great success with the event and thanks them for letting us be part of their organization.

Like many individuals and businesses alike, GiftTree is making an effort to reduce our ecological footprint. We believe that small changes can make a big difference. We already recycle all cardboard, paper, and aluminum cans, but we continuously look for new ideas to implement.

For example, in hopes of eliminating the use of plastic utensils, we’re currently in the middle of a utensil drive. Employees have been asked to bring in utensils that they can donate to our lunch room. I know I have mismatched silverware that’s rarely used at the back of the utensil drawer at home. Why not bring them in to work where they’ll be much more useful?

We also have an espresso machine in our lunch room. Possibly because coffee is like fuel here at GiftTree, especially during the hectic holidays, but it also helps us be more environmentally friendly. We use ceramic mugs and it reduces the number of trips to our local Starbuck’s. If only five GiftTree employees replace one Starbuck’s coffee with an espresso made here at work each day, that’s a savings of 1,300 paper cups a year, not to mention 1,300 fewer trips in the car.

GiftTree has an employee suggestion program where employees contribute ideas that can help improve operations, the work environment, basically any suggestions to improve the company and how we do business are accepted. For the month of June, our theme is reducing the amount of paper we use. One suggestion is to eliminate printed papers for meetings. Thanks to an employee suggestion, GiftTree will be purchasing a projector for our conference room. This one, simple solution will save reams of paper each year.

What is your company doing to reduce your impact on the environment? We’d love to hear your suggestions too!

Check out GiftTree’s new video. I think it’s proof that the GiftTree team knows how to have a good time. Yes, it may be a little silly, but it was fun to make and I can’t help but laugh out loud every time I watch it. We certainly can’t be blamed for taking ourselves too seriously!

Kimber Huntington Webb - Humane Society for Southwest Washington

GiftTree and the Humane Society for Southwest Washington both recognize the value that companion animals play in our lives and work together to help ensure the thousands of homeless animals in our community receive the second chance they deserve. Join us for the 17th annual Walk Run for the Animals on Saturday, May 3rd at Esther Short Park. Registration and fun in the park begin at 7 a.m. Our 5K Fun Run starts at 8:45 a.m. and the Walk begins at 9 a.m.

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington cares for more than 13,000 animals each year. It is not uncommon for us to receive 80 animals a day. Your support helps them receive the medical attention they need and a warm, safe place to stay while they await their forever homes.

Tessa and Faye
Emaciated, sick, and clearly over-bred, Tessa, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, arrived at our shelter late last fall. It was obvious she had suffered severe physical trauma and emotional stress. Tessa was missing chunks from her ears, a sign of being attacked by other dogs. She trembled in fear and was unwilling to rise from her bed. Her earlier trauma combined with the noise, stress and unfamiliarity of the shelter was taking its toll.

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May I brag a little bit? My job permits me to travel to various places in the world. I’ve had the pleasure (and the dismay) of visiting numerous airports. Home base is Portland, OR. I must say that the Portland airport has got to be the nicest, most traveler friendly airport I have come across. Known as PDX, the facility has restaurants, fine art, children friendly areas, wide gateways, clean restrooms, easy access to mass transit, a top notch and pleasant security staff and plenty of coffee kiosks. What’s the best feature? Hands down it is the short term parking garage. I love this place! Every single parking spot has a sensor overhead that identifies if the spot is taken or open. If a car is in the spot, the light is red. If the spot is empty, the light is green. From the far far end of the row I can see if there is an open parking space. No more trolling the lanes to find a spot to park. I know, it sounds ridiculous to be so enamored with a parking structure, but it really is very cool. Haven’t you ever been late to pick somebody up at the airport and added even more to your tardiness because you have been searching for the best parking space? Have you ever spotted another group of people about to pile into their car to leave and then hover by them so you may claim their spot? Come on, you know you have. PDX has eliminated all that nonsense. Now if they would only install those little lights in the parking lot at the mall during the Christmas shopping season…

GiftTree employees not only love their community, but they love their dogs! We have 7-10 dogs in the office daily…what would a day here be like without Soda or Harper begging to go outside and fetch the tennis ball? So it is appropriate that we will participate in the 17th annual Walk/Run for the Animals happening on Saturday May 3rd at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver. This is a fundraising event for the Humane Society of SW Washington and all donations will help animals in the area. The donations will go towards vaccinations, spaying/neutering, food, and many other things to help. GiftTree employees can walk a route equaling anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles or do a 5K run. And the cool part is you can bring your own dog for the walk/run! There will be all sorts of music and vendor booths at Esther Short Park (which is a very cool park by the way). So mark your calendars for May 3rd and come help support the cause. For more info, go to www.southwesthumane.org. Ruff Ruff!!

John Oshin - Portland Camp Fire

Camp Fire USA Portland Metro Council is very, very grateful to GiftTree.com for their generous donation of packaging expertise and materials for our August auction. The auctioned items will definitely look far more attractive than had we tried to tackle this task ourselves. And yes, with eye-catching offerings comes higher bids. But it’s not just the higher revenue! With GiftTree’s talented team taking care of the packaging, now our staff and volunteers can divert their time and energy to other tasks to make the event more successful and lucrative. It’s a double benefit for us!

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One of the most popular fundraising methods for not-for-profit organizations are auctions or silent auctions. There are typically an abundance of donated gifts from the community and although every contributor has the best of intentions, packaging often goes by the wayside. And as we all know, packaging can make or break the “sale.”

GiftTree recently had the privilege of teaming up with Portland CampFire to help package donated items for the upcoming auction at their Blue Jeans and BBQ event. The packaging makes the auction items more appealing to bidders and helps bring in more funds. And of course, with fundraising, that literally is the name of the game. GiftTree feels fortunate to partner with our friends in the community and to have the opportunity to put our packaging expertise to work for such a good cause.

Now we want to hear from you. We’ll use The Gift Exchange as a platform to share fundraising ideas, information about our charitable partners and opportunities for getting involved. We invite you to post a comment to introduce your not-for-profit organization or let us know about your upcoming fundraiser. Come on, this is your opportunity to give a shout out for your favorite cause!