Sharing House Archives - T-V-S Overcoming Challenges

TVS employees donate Back to School supplies!

Aug 2, 2022 | News

TVS employees continue to give back to our community! Over the past two weeks, TVS employees donated almost 1600 school supply items to the Sharing House.

The Back to School program provides free school supplies for all low-income students (K-12) living in Transylvania County. The Sharing House estimates to serve 600+ children in 2022!

“This school supply drive was very successful; we easily doubled the amount of donations we received the previous year. TVS employees show a lot of support for our donation drives, my favorite thing about each of our donation drives is seeing the employees so willing to give back to our community!” said Catherine Whitley, HR Generalist. “We decided to host the school supply drive again this year because of who it is benefitting. We all get to see the benefits of this drive in our community and kids. Helping them have a successful school year is a great feeling.”

The largest amounts of donated items included 164 rulers, 135 spiral notebooks, 126 packs of #2 pencils, and 116 packs of Crayons. However, TVS employees also donated hand sanitizer, dry erase markers, disinfecting wipes, and much more.

“This donation drive is our 2nd largest since TVS began donating back in the fall of 2020! Our record is 1700 hygiene items which were donated to S.A.F.E. in 2021,” Whitley said. “Though we didn’t quite pass that during this drive, we are thrilled with our employee participation!”

Prior to the school supply drive, TVS employees also donated dog food to the Labor of Love Pet Rescue during March of 2022.

“It is such a nice feeling being able to give back to this dog rescue,” said HR Administrative Assistant Kayde Hopkins. “Our support with this donation helps fosters care for the pups before they reach their forever homes.”

The total donation equaled just over 40 bags of dry dog food, over 40 bags of treats, and 3 cases of wet food.

Looking ahead for the rest of the year, TVS plans to host the 3rd annual “Give Back, Get Back” donation event. While the donation drives have not been released, TVS employees can expect to have three more ways to give back to their community.

Last year, TVS employees donated to Life Changers Outreach, S.A.F.E., and Operation Christmas Child.

TVS collects over 850 school supplies for local Sharing House

Aug 13, 2021 | News

Lined paper, colored pencils, glue sticks, and neon highlighters overflow boxes after two weeks of collecting school supply donations for the Transylvania County Sharing House. TVS held a “Tools 4 School” donation drive and donated an amazing 885 school supply items to assist local students with getting back into the classrooms!

“TVS has been trying to support many local organizations since starting our donation drives. We figured this we would be a great time to incorporate the schools,” said TVS Benefits and Recruitment Specialist Catherine Tinsley. “This year and last has been very difficult for many families in Transylvania County and we wanted to make sure that the kids had everything they needed to have a successful school year.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TVS decided to offer more donation events within the company to help provide extra resources to other local services aiding the community. Previous local donations include food and clothing to the Life Changers Outreach in Pisgah Forest and pet needs to the Transylvania County Animal Shelter.

The school supply donation is currently the largest donation in recent TVS history, edging out the canned food drive by almost 100 items. “It really amazes me each time we do a donation drive here at TVS, our employees pull together for a great cause,” said Tinsley. “I am so excited to know that we are going to help many children and teens across the county!”

For over 20 years the local Sharing House has been providing free school supplies for any school-aged child (K-12) in a Transylvania County School. On average around 500 children receive supplies through this program. So far this year, 425 kids have already filled backpacks with supplies and the Sharing House is expecting more before the Back to School supply drive ends.

Last year the Sharing House saw a decline in students due to the COVID-19 pandemic having students learning in home classrooms.

COVID has affected the Sharing House in different ways. “This meant a huge amount to us because of the pandemic and the way life is right now, we have not seen the same amount of donations that we are used to,” said Sharing House Special Projects Coordinator Lynn Traub. “With this donation we now have the freedom to continue giving out all the supplies that students need.”

The pandemic also affected how the Sharing House hands out the backpacks. For most of this year (and prior to the pandemic), families were able to come into the building and pick out all the supplies. Now, with a rise in new cases, the Sharing House allows children to choose their backpacks, but they instead have personnel fill it with the required items before bringing the backpack out to the car.

Along with the school supplies all children have been receiving a new pair of shoes, socks, and underwear to start the year. This part of the program started 3 years ago thanks to local donations.

To take part and receive school supplies, you do not have to be signed up with the Sharing House. Appointments can be made by calling (828) 884-2866 ext. 111 and talking with Lynn Traub. However, they will accommodate walk-ins to the best of their abilities and availability. Friday, Aug 13 was the last day to receive new shoes, socks, and underwear with the school items.

The school supply drive will stay open until Friday, August 20 to assist with any last-minute needs. You can learn more about the Sharing House at https://www.sharinghouse.org/

TVS Diaper Drive Donates 50 Pounds of Needed Items

Nov 14, 2019 | News

Last month, TVS collected a total of 628 diapers to be donated to the Sharing House. Sizes ranged from the small premature size to training pants. Size 1 diapers had the largest total donated with 348 diapers. Along with the diapers, TVS employees also collected 3 packs of wipes and 12 bars of soap. The grand total ended up weighing a whopping 50 pounds. The diaper drive was organized by TVS Training & Development Specialist Emily Owens, who on Halloween dressed up as a Pinky the Ghost from Ms. Pac-Man. She rallied TVS team members and decorated the building with flyers.