The Joy of Giving Fairy shown here is an outward expression of my own feelings about giving.  It is said that it is better to give than receive and so often that is true.

Once a year, we open my warehouse doors for a sale event, selling off slightly (and sometimes very) irregular or damaged items from my Home Collection & Christmas decor lines.  We even include a few Fairies, but these are actually a very small part of the sale event.  We sell odd lots & last of a kind items…all at a very deep discount and only for one day a year.  My staff even donates their time…yes, they arrive at 5:30am and work for free all day long.  Why you may ask?

Because we donate nearly 100% of the sales to various local charities.  If you click on the photo to the right, you can see some pictures of the presentations we made to some terrific organizations in our local community.  My staff & I had great joy in supporting & giving:

• $7,500 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County/Inland Empire in Southern California.
• $7,500 to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County…also know as CHOC Hospital.  The gift is designated towards the oncology (cancer) department.
• $7,500 to Olive Crest Children’s Home in Santa Ana.
• $7.500 to Taller San Jose (St. Joseph’s Workshop) which works with young people who have gotten into trouble with the law or mixed up with gangs & drugs.  They train them for and place them in the job market.
• $6,000 in children’s toys for Toys for Tots, the great organization run by our United States Marines.

Check out the photos and for more information, go to the CHARITABLE CAUSES tab of this website.  The Christmas Season is about the Joy of Giving and as we celebrate Christmas this year, let us be reminded once again that it truly is better to give than receive.

For every purchase of selected Limited Edition Fairies, a portion goes to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation^®.

ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL is a registered trademark of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Inc. ALSAC is a service mark of American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, Inc.
©2007 American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, Inc.

© 2007 Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, Inc. Make-A-Wish Foundation^®, Make-A-Wish^® and other designated trademarks are property of Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, Inc. Licensed by Global Icons LLC. All rights reserved.

Yes, this is the sign that you will see when entering the Orange County CHOC hospital playroom. The meaning of this sign is understood after you have visited the children in the hospital and its meaning will be engraved in your heart forever. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to the above causes that Mark Roberts supports in a major way, below are other charities, local, national and international that Mark Roberts company supports on a monthly basis.

LOCAL

• COOKIE CART LEARNING CENTER www.cookiecart.org
  Based in Minneapolis, I learned about this organization during a Signing Event held there. Young children with difficult circumstances and little hope but the street, are hired to bake cookies, which are then sold through various local venues. They are given the opportunity to have a job, and learn the skills needed to keep a job and stay off the street.
• COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA www.covenanthouseca.org
  This is a shelter that helps homeless youth in need of shelter and guidance in order to gain self-sufficiency as they move towards childhood. Many years ago, while I was at an auction house in California, an oddity of things being auctioned off came up…there were hundreds of brand new shoes. When I realized that all these shoes were about to be sold off for about $1.00 per pair of shoes, I lost my senses and started bidding! I had no idea what I would do with 250 pairs of shoes, but at $1.00 per pair, I was determined to get them. Well, another bidder and I bid the price up to two dollars and some change per pair of shoes, and I won. I ended up giving a pair of shoes to each of my staff, and still had well over 100 pair of shoes left. A dear friend told me about Covenant House in Los Angeles, and on Christmas morning back in 1998, after church, we made the 1 hour drive up to L.A. to deliver the shoes. This was quite an unexpected arrival for everyone there that morning, and to this day, I have very fond memories of this.
• LOS ANGELES MISSION www.losangelesmission.org
  This mission helps the Los Angeles area homeless men, women & children with food, shelter and health care.
• MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION OF ORANGE COUNTY www.wishoc.org
  Part of the national Make-A-Wish Foundation, they are dedicated to granting wishes to children with life threatening illness.
• ORANGE COUNTY RESUCE MISSION www.rescuemission.org
  This mission helps the Orange County, CA area homeless men, women & children with food, shelter and health care.
• OLIVE CREST CHILDRENS HOME www.olivecrest.org
  This is a foster care facility for young children at risk. They have homes for at risk children in the Pacific Northwest and western part of the USA.
• TALLER SAN JOSE www.tallersanjose.org
  This is a terrific organization dedicated to helping high risk youth with job training & interpersonal skills in a strict & structured environment while impressing the values of respect, dignity, responsibility & community upon their students. I recently read a book by the founder of this organization. The book is titled A Story of Suffering and Hope by Sister Eileen McNerney. After reading the book, I had the opportunity to meet with the author and learn much more about the details of her organization. I was greatly impressed with the overall organization, and the fact that she runs a tight ship…her “students” are paid minimum wage, and in their time at Taller San Jose, they are taught to learn office and job skills. I asked her what happens to those who fail to regularly report to “work or class”, have behavioral issues and other things any employer is concerned about. Her reply was very business like when she told me they work to counsel them to immediately improve, give them warnings, and will quickly fire them if they cannot live by the rules of her organization. She has a very high success rate. Sister Eileen McNerney is one tough cookie who makes a big difference in the local community.

NATIONAL

• AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY http://www.cancer.org/
• AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH http://www.amfar.org/
• AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
• HABITAT FOR HUMANITY http://www.habitat.org/

INTERNATIONAL

• CONCERN AMERICA www.concernamerica.org
• CHRISTIAN CHILDRENS FUND www.christianchildrensfund.org
• CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES www.crs.org
• UNICEF www.unicef.org