donation - Influencing Identity

Annual Donation: Granite Education Foundation

Every year Coller Industries makes an effort to recognize its employees during the holiday season. Part of this recognition tends to extend into the surrounding community. And, in turn, this translates to donations to various parts of our community. For the past six years, Clyde and Gary Coller, the CEO and President, respectively, of Coller Industries Incorporated have generously donated monetary benefits to The Granite Education Foundation.

The Granite Education Foundation provides access to resources that improve educational outcomes.

The Foundation provides educational opportunities for Granite School District students. They educate students, teachers and members of our community on positive ways to impact the community.

This year the $10,000 donation will go toward several programs.

One of the largest parts of this generous donation will go toward the annual Santa Sacks.

Celebrating the holiday season can present financial challenges for many families. GEF’s Santa Sacks program is designed to help 2,000 under-served families lighten this load. Santa Sacks provides children, grades Pre-K through 6th, with a fun filled gift sack packed with clothing essentials, a hat, warm gloves, a book and a small toy. Santa Sacks allows the community to come together and celebrate the season of giving.

“It makes us more responsible in the community,” said Gary Coller. “Hopefully our customers appreciate when they see that we give back to our own community.”

Another large part of this donation will be given to the Excel Gala program.

Each year, GEF supporters gather to recognize outstanding teachers, administrators and community members whose personal commitment and contributions impact the 67,000 students in the Granite School District. During the Gala, “The Excel Award” is bestowed upon nine teachers and one administrator that have been nominated by school administrators, colleagues or students. Presentations are made by nominees while enjoying dinner, silent and live auctions which raise funds for valuable programs and services that GEF sponsors throughout the year.

The remainder of the donation is to be split between student aid, need based programs and even the general GEF fund.

Coller Industries Incorporated started donating to the GEF in 2009 and to day has donated over $37,000. We are happy to continue our annual support of this wonderful foundation. And as employees here at Coller Industries, it is a pleasure knowing that our employer is so generous with their time and money.

Donation Spotlight: An Infinite Mind

Donations are a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays.

They are also a great way to highlight our customers; especially our repeat customers. An Infinite Mind is no exception to this. Coller Industries has had the pleasure of working with An Infinite Mind for the past six years and enjoys supporting their cause. While a simple donation of name badge holders may seem small, it means a great deal to the recipient. “We are very appreciative of the continued support of Coller Industries. It not only means a lot to me personally but also to our attendees to know someone cares about this cause,” says Jaime Pollock, Founder and Director of An Infinite Mind.

An Infinite Mind works with adult survivors of childhood abuse who have dissociation and DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). They are a non-profit organization that educates and advocates for these adult trauma survivors. They offer workshops, support groups and supportive therapies to improve the lives of these survivors. An Infinite Mind also holds an annual conference for these survivors, their loved ones, and mental health professionals.

“The conference is priced to cost in order to keep it affordable to all who want to come. With the continued generous donations from Coller Industries, we are able to keep our costs low, which in turn keeps the cost of the conference low,” Pollack graciously said.

As part of this conference, Coller Industries provided a donation of badge holders, inserts and lanyards. These items will be used for volunteers, speakers, and attendees during the “Healing Together” conference. “The conference is private and secure so if a person does not have the coveted name badge, they cannot enter. The name tag is a very important piece of the conference,” said Pollack.

In the past, Pollack described An Infinite Mind as a dedicated and hard-working organization. “We’re very passionate about this cause,” she added. Here’s a hats-off to our friends at An Infinite Mind!

Donation Spotlight: Water Mission

“Water Builds Life,” says Lisa Cottingham, of Water Mission.

Water Mission, formerly Water Missions International, sees the need to address a global water crisis. Lisa Cottingham, Director of Development for Water Mission, explains, “We view the global water crisis as a problem that needs fixing, not a cause that needs unending donations. We are resolving the crisis as we scale the work. The global water crisis is enormous, urgent; and is desperate for innovative, break-through solutions. Therefore, we aspire to be experts and best in class in all aspects of our work.”

Water Mission is a nonprofit Christian engineering organization that designs, builds and implements safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) solutions for people in developing countries and disaster areas. Since 2001, Water Mission has used innovative technology and engineering expertise to provide access to safe water for more than 3 million people in 52 countries. Water Mission has over 200 staff members working around the world in permanent country programs located in Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

“Our Mission is to be a best in class Christian Engineering Ministry that transforms lives through sustainable safe water solutions,” stated Cottingham. The organization’s values include compassion for those in need, excellence in their work, and integrity in all their relationships and activities.

Due their name change, Water Mission recently went through a rebranding phase. Part of the rebranding included needing new name tags for their organization.

Coller Industries stepped in to help out the effort with a donation of UV Name Tags with Water Mission’s new logo.

“The new, rebranded name tags from Coller Industries Incorporated will help us present our brand and mission to the world,” said Cottingham. A UV color logo is a full color printing process which allows for quality, high resolution images with bright colors and gradients.

“The generous (donation) from Coller Industries allows us to devote more of our resources to providing safe water around the world,” said Cottingham. Water Mission also maintains a news blog to keep followers up-to-date on their actions and activities.

Donation Spotlight: Bethesda Thrift Shop

Our customers are amazing! And to help all of our customers realize how important they are to us, we’d like to spotlight a donation that we’ve recently made. We were contacted by Scott Glidden of Bethesda Thrift Shop in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Bethesda Thrift Shop is run by Bethesda Lutheran Communities. “They are a Christian organization that provides homes for people with developmental disabilities across the country. They create connections that support people on their journey to live the best life possible.”

Glidden shared the following mission statement with us. “(We are here) to enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through services that share the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Coller Industries provided a donation of Medium Plus Mighty Badges™ to Bethesda Thrift. Each Mighty Badge™ comes with a reusable, metal back plate, a printable insert, and a plastic lens that snaps onto the back plate to make the whole system work. This product is a wonderful option for those who need a quick, reusable name badge for volunteer positions.

“We use your name badges to recognize our volunteers for their hours of service. Some of our volunteers have over 19,000 hours, so they are very proud of their badges,” said Glidden. “The volunteers have just loved them in the past, and it is nice to see how much it means to them to give them one. I always let them know that they were donated by Coller Industries.”

Glidden describes Bethesda Thrift as “a place that welcomes volunteers who help support our mission. We pride ourselves with the fact that we have paid staff and volunteers with disabilities working in our store. We have demonstrated that people with disabilities have different skills and abilities and are able to have meaningful jobs in our community. We have helped many of them find stable rewarding employment.”

Bethesda Lutheran Communities is a national leader in providing homes and support, promoting awareness, and advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They operate in 14 states with more than 300 program locations and they succeed through the passion of their employees and volunteers who make a difference every day in the lives of those they support.

Donation Spotlight: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Houston Youth Adult League

Once again, we’d like to say thank you to all of our customers by highlighting our most recent donation activities. We were contacted by Tiffany Antony of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Houston Youth Adult League. Antony is the DYA Regional Coordinator for the church. Here are some wonderful details about the organization and how we were able to help!
Tiffany Antony, DYA Regional Coordinator, said “(The church is) a new and upcoming diocese. The mission of the Diocesan Youth Apostolate is to unite all young people of the Diocese in response to the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ by encouraging the formation of a deep interior life that overflows into genuine service to the Church and to the world.”

Name Tag, Inc.: If you could describe your organization in three words, what would they be?
“Passionate, United and Spiritual,” said Antony.

History of St. Joseph Catholic Church:
In 1879, the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament founded a school near (the church) site to serve Houston’s Sixth Ward. One year later, St. Joseph Parish was founded …to serve the school and surrounding community. This Romanesque Revival structure, designed by Patrick S. Rabbit and built in 1901, replaced the earlier sanctuary (that was) destroyed in the great hurricane of 1900. http://www.stjoseph6thward.org/

Black Woven Badge Lanyards,

Economy Vinyl Badge Holders,

and Badge Inserts were donated to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Houston Youth Adult League.

Name Tag, Inc.: How will it help your organization?
Antony said, “We are hosting a leadership conference for all the youth in the Texas and Oklahoma region this summer. The donation will help (the church) to be able to provide an easy way for people attending our conferences to meet one another and get to know one another. The name badges will have also have cabin and group numbers so that people will know where to go.”

“(Coller Industries) has helped us to make our church events so much better and we are so excited and thankful for their generous donation. We are so so so eternally grateful for this donation! You have truly helped us out so much,” said Antony.