Bassett Mechanical Associates joined forces this season to organize a drive to gather items for COTS, Inc., a local nonprofit whose mission is to offer housing to men, women, young adults, and veterans who need help transitioning out of homelessness into a sustainable future. During their annual Christmas Community Dinner, residents are provided with goody bags filled with day-to-day living items needed during the holidays. Bassett Mechanical Associates jumped at the chance to take a look at the holiday wish list and coordinate a drive to get the residents of COTS items they needed most including alarm clocks, backpacks, journals, and bus passes.
Over the past 2 years, Bassett Mechanical has been working with COTS to assist with much-needed updates to their heating and cooling systems (click here for the full story). During one of the meetings related to this HVAC update project, Patt Bray, Development Director at COTS, Inc. mentioned some extra needs of the residents, especially during this holiday season. Seeing this as an opportunity to provide help, Bassett’s VP of Human Resources, Patty Van Ryzin, brought the concept back to the Human Resource team at Bassett who immediately went to work planning a drive to get these items to the residents of COTS.
Giving is the true spirit of Bassett’s culture. About 9 years ago Bassett Mechanical coordinated its first Giving Tree donation, gathering gift cards for many of the company‘s long-term sheet metal employees who were laid off at the time due to slower workload during the recession. Since then, every year Bassett coordinates an annual giving tree donation before the holidays, checking first on the needs of any of our Bassett Mechanical family members and then any other community schools and organizations to see if there are any families that could benefit from Bassett’s sponsorship.
Every year Bassett associates respond with nothing but generosity, and this year was no exception. Although the company kick starts the annual United Way campaign in October and associates generously commit to contributions for those efforts, they are still more than happy to contribute again just 1 or 2 months later and give what they can to these families in need. This year the items and monetary donations gathered were able to provide over $2,000 worth of gift cards and wishlist items to the COTS residents in need.
Bassett Mechanical is a strong and growing company filled with many dedicated, skilled, and kind-hearted associates. In this spirit, associates are sending hope and cheer to all of the residents at COTS and hoping their donations can help brighten their holiday season.
