I work for Salesforce, an amazing company who was recently ranked #1 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2017. I can vouch for the fact that they deserve this title and wholeheartedly agree with the first line in this article that says “Salesforce has forged unusual corporate culture … from zealous encouragement of employee philanthropy…” If I didn’t have the backing of Salesforce and my incredible co-workers I’m not sure if I would have started the amaZing 3.21K in the first place. I knew that with the support of the Company and of my co-workers and friends that share the same values as the company that I could be, at the very least, mildly successful at raising a little bit of money for both Ruby’s and Reece’s Rainbow. I never imagined that we would be as successful as we were in 2018, in huge part to the company and to one particular individual.
Salesforce not only gives back as a company, but also encourages it’s employees to give back. They give us time to volunteer at organizations of our choice and reward the employees that do an outstanding job of giving back. My friend and co-worker, Parker, was one of the top 100 volunteers last year receiving a $10,000 grant to donate to an organization of his choice. He donates hundreds of hours to organizations that are important to him and his family, so when he came to me after finding out he was receiving a grant, I was surprised. He had participated in the race last year and knew we had raised enough to grant a scholarship in Zeke’s name. He and I had talked occasionally about the planning of this year’s upcoming race and he knew I hoping to raise enough to grant another scholarship. As we were leaving a meeting he stopped me and asked, “It takes $3000 to have a scholarship in Zeke’s name, right?” When I confirmed, he told me that he wanted to give $3,000 to Ruby’s Rainbow in Zeke’s name. I was so overwhelmed and thankful that he’d do this for us!
THEN, the next day Parker called me with some more news. He started with, “Remember a couple months ago when you told me about your neighbor,” (click here if you missed the story about my neighbor). I knew exactly what he was referring to because the day had such an impact on me. For whatever reason, he was the only person I had told the story to at work (another miracle?). He continued, “Well, I went home last night and told my wife that story and she started crying. We would like to give the rest of the $7,000 to Reece’s Rainbow for the family that is adopting.” If I wasn’t overwhelmed, emotional and shocked the day before, I was today. I was beyond thankful and couldn’t believe how this had all come to be.
I immediately ran to tell my neighbor. We both had tears in our eyes as I recounted all of the events, but when I called to tell, Amanda, the mom who is waiting to adopt this beautiful girl, I could barely talk. We both sat on the phone crying. She told me of how they knew that this little girl was meant to be in their family but had no idea how they were going to financially pull it off. They decided to go forward and trust that God would provide for them. Parker and this grant were an answer to their prayers.
The best part of the story, for me, was getting to watch these two families meet for the first time at the amaZing 3.21K. There were tears and hugs and so much love.
Parker is in the bright shirt, in the middle, with his family to the left in the picture. Amanda and her beautiful family are to the right in the picture.
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It was also an honor for me, Zeke and our whole family to finally get to meet the Hilton family, in person. We can’t wait til their little sister is home with them!
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Thank you to Parker and his family from the bottom of our hearts for making this year’s race and financial impact so AMAZING! You are incredible. And thank you to the Hilton family for letting us be a part of your beautiful story. We are sending lots of love and praying for you daily as you work through the long process of “bringing little sister home.”
Lots of Love,
Heather
