Townsquared Gives Back Day of Service
Townsquared believes that our communities are stronger when we work together. As a company, helping our communities is part of what we do. We work hard to make a difference in the communities where we serve, whether that’s by helping local, small businesses or volunteering at the organizations that assist those living in the neighborhoods where we work.
Townsquared Gives Back is one way that we can positively impact the communities where we work on a day-to-day basis. Townsquared Gives Back brings together our team and their families and friends, and our members, to volunteer and make change happen in local communities.
Townsquared member Debbie Davies (left), owner of Focus + Finance, volunteered alongside our New York City team to serve breakfast at the Bowery Mission.
The Townsquared team in each of our cities rolled up their sleeves on May 11, 2017 to volunteer at organizations that serve the homeless and hungry. The National Alliance to End Homelessness states that there are 564,708 people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the US. Of those 564, 708 people, 36,907 (6.38%) are children, 47,725 (8.33%) are veterans, and 269,991 (47.6%) are disabled and unable to work. It’s an issue that we witness everyday in the Mission neighborhood where the Townsquared headquarters are located.
As a part of Townsquared Gives Back, our team at Townsquared volunteered their time at these organizations:
Members and business leaders volunteered with our Portland team at the NE Backpack Program, packing food for kids to take home over the weekend. Every food bag includes a handcrafted card.
San Francisco Bay Area: GLIDE is a Bay Area institution in the Bay Area that provides comprehensive programs to help break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. GLIDE serves a diverse cross-section of homeless, low-income and disenfranchised persons.
New York: The Bowery Mission has served homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879. Last year alone, the Bowery Mission provided more than 505,000 meals to men, women and children. They also provided 97,300 nights of shelter and 56,200 articles of clothing, as well as showers, haircuts, and medical and optometric care.
Our Seattle team volunteered at Queen Ann Helpline, sorting and packing food for students to take home over the weekend.
Seattle: The Queen Anne Helpline improves the lives of neighbors in need by providing emergency assistance for housing, food and basic needs. The Helpline ensures that several thousand people every year in the Queen Anne area have secure housing, are able to pay their utility bills, and have adequate food and clothing.
Portland: The Portland Backpack Lunch Program brings food and hope to schoolchildren at risk of hunger on the weekends. During the 2015-16 school year, they distributed over 12,400 meals to 170 low-income schoolchildren at four Northeast Portland schools.
Helping our communities begins right outside our doors. In Portland alone, we had 20 members and business leaders volunteer their time, and many brought donations of food and cash for the backpacks too. We are fortunate to be given opportunities like this, where we can work alongside each other and our neighbors to improve the cities that we live in. We are stronger, together.