This holiday season, Cintas, a Valencia-based company, gave three families from Single Mothers Outreach a special treat.
“Our general manager, Paul Yanez, came to me the last week in November and said, ‘I’d really like us to do something more this year,’ so I took the ball and ran with it,” said Nicholas Amaro, market sales manager at Cintas.
As Cintas strives to only hire local employees at each of its locations, a community outreach event such as this one was the start of something special, Amaro said.
After deciding on Single Mothers Outreach, Cintas worked with them to facilitate an event for three of the families in the program where they would provide gifts for each of the mothers and children.
“We got the kids names and sizes and three different wish items, so they were not just random presents, but something they asked for,” Amaro said, adding that they raised about $1,000 to spend on the three mothers and 13 kids. “It was hilarious — two grown men were out Christmas shopping for a bunch of kids.”
Those families were then invited to Cintas for the holiday experience, which featured a hot cocoa bar, holiday treats, and a special visit from Santa Claus, who distributed the presents.
“The truth is that as a single mother I wasn’t sure how I was going to provide any gifts for my kids this year,” said Sandy, one of the mothers. “I am so grateful for the generous donors that created such a great event for my kids and myself. It made our Christmas so special. God bless them.”
One family had seven children, and all of them were incredibly appreciative, according to Amaro.
“That was something special,” he said. “They just lit up like you’d never seen before.”
“The kids were overwhelmed with happiness,” another mother Christine added. “They were very sweet to the kids and every person that was there was very caring and warm. Thank you to the donors for providing a wonderful family environment and surrounding my children with love.”
Though this was the first year Cintas had done something like this, it went so well that they are planning on doing it bigger and better next year, Amaro said.
Editor’s note: The last names of the mothers were omitted for confidentiality purposes.
