Tis the season to be giving
By Tara Donaldson
Each year at Christmas time, Amber Heron and her three children look for a way to help others. This year, she's working for Offix in Manassas, so Heron asked her bosses if they'd like to help sponsor a family.What began as a family effort snowballed into a massive giving program, allowing the small company to provide presents, food and clothing for three separate families this year.
Offix is a 10-year-old company that supplies office equipment and software. The company has about 30 employees working in Manassas and Richmond.
Heron, assistant to the vice president of finance and business operations, called around and found a family at Turning Points who needs help this Christmas. Turning Points is the domestic violence shelter run by ACTS -- Action Through Community in Service.
Heron met with a mother living at the shelter to discuss her two children's Christmas lists.
She said the mother talked about her 12-year-old son's desire for a video game system -- something he'd never had before -- and said he'd never asked for one because he knew they couldn't afford it.
“There's a lot of people out there who expect to be handed things,” Heron said. “She isn't one of them.”
Heron said the mother didn't want to ask for help, but accepted it when Heron offered to provide some presents for her children.
Heron then put out calls to her friends and colleagues and the response was immediate. Frances Heatherman, of Heatherman Homes in Fredericksburg, said she wanted to provide the children with everything on their lists -- including a PlayStation 3.
Since one person had picked up the entire load, Heron called Turning Points back and asked to sponsor a second family.
The offers kept pouring in.
Offix owners Steve and Kim Valenta made a large donation. The Offix employees in Manassas and Richmond all pitched in. Tammy Gray of Long and Foster in Manassas got involved and so did the staff at Carino Family Dentistry in Gainesville. Everyone wrapped presents and Heron took the cash donations and went shopping for more presents with her 11, 9 and 3-year-old.
And the offers to help kept coming.
So many presents came pouring in that the team picked up a third family. The wife of an Offix employee knew of two children living with their grandparents because their mother was incarcerated. The children were added to the list too, giving the Offix team and their friends six children from three families to sponsor for Christmas.
But they collected more than presents. The gifts included food and clothing, which Heron said were desperately needed.
“One particular family has nothing,” Heron said. “They've been in the shelter for three weeks and they came in with nothing. They didn't even have winter coats.”
That's all changed now and as the new year approaches, three area families will have a little more comfort and joy as they begin their new lives.