" It Was Important for our Team to Find Ways to Volunteer "
During 2020 / 2021 Steadfast STAR REIT teamed up with Girls , Inc ., The Animal Debt Project , and a Precious Child to give back to the communities around Colorado . Though the pandemic made it more difficult to find areas in our communities to volunteer , we knew it was important to our team that we find a way . We were fortunate to find three great non-profits that served our communities in different ways and were excited to give back .
This past September ( 2021 ) we were able to volunteer at Girls , Inc . of Metro Denver . Their mission is ‘ Inspiring all girls to be strong , smart , and bold ’. Steadfast STAR REIT partnered with the team at Girls , Inc during the week of 9 / 11 as a day of remembrance and reflection while giving back to our community . Girls , Inc teamed up with Xcel Energy for a Day of Service , where forty non-profits were requesting volunteer help . Girls , Inc was one of the forty non-profits that needed volunteers to get their facility ready for all the new girls coming in just a few weeks after we volunteered .
Our team helped to clean up outdoor planters , deep clean the vehicles they utilize to transport their groups , set up tech carts , sanitize and organize the sports closet , deep clean the gym and locker room , unload laptops , clean the dance room , inventory and repackage shirts , and unload and reorganize donated items . Collectively we had 15 volunteers and 60 + hours of volunteer time .
The Animal Debt Project is a great organization that works alongside other rescues across the country to save animals from abuse , neglect and kill shelters . Our teams partnered with the on-site team in Wellington , CO to clean kennels , garages , equipment and exercise a variety of dogs . Part of the mission of The Animal Debt Project is to socialize puppies to older dogs . Our teams were excited to be part of that rehabilitation . While our team was busy volunteering there was a call out for a pickup of puppies and we were able to see from rescue to the start of rehabilitation . The puppies arrived and were too scared to come out of their kennel . By the time the team left those three little puppies were climbing and crawling all over our team . Collectively we had 19 volunteers and 76 hours of volunteer time .
A Precious Child empowers kids to succeed . While teaming up with A Precious Child our teams helped sort and inspect clothing for their donation centers . A Precious Child has a no pay store that is attached to their warehouse where families in need come in and shop for clothing and toys for their entire family in a dignified way . Donations are brought in not only for every day needs but also for the start of school needs . They partner with organizations across Colorado to create hundreds of backpacks full of the school supplies needed to help prepare the kids for success in school . Collectively we had 7 volunteers and 42 hours of volunteer time .
During a time when feeling a sense of normalcy has been difficult through this pandemic , our team was able to come together and give back . Volunteering helped our focus move from pandemic to serving others . This brought us all together to continue to grow our desire to find more volunteer events . We appreciate the opportunities we were given and look forward to many more times of volunteering well into our future .
Lora Perea , Steadfast Apartment REIT , Inc . www . aamdhq . org NOV / DEC 2021 TRENDS | 33