| By Tara Blair |
As a longtime Gale employee, I wasn’t surprised when I caught word of the company’s plans to assemble hundreds of gift boxes for the children at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. The boxes were to be filled with crafts, activity books, puzzles, and games during a team building event that was scheduled to take place this spring. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like many other large gatherings, the team building event was postponed.
Instead of disappointing the hospital staff at C.S. Mott, Gale asked Cheeriodicals, an organization that specializes in corporate team building events that benefit children’s hospitals and Veterans Affairs medical centers, to move forward and ship all the gift boxes directly to the children’s hospital. As if this wasn’t enough, they also heard about another children’s hospital in Detroit, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, in need of a little cheer, and out of pure kindness, decided to deliver to them as well! The team at Cheeriodicals wrote a blog that gives more insight on the effort.
Upon receipt of the shipment of Cheeriodicals, our contacts from Mott Children’s snapped photos of the shipment (all three pallets of Cheeriodicals) in their receiving dock and shared them with us. Likewise, the Child Life Team from Children’s Hospital of Michigan sent pictures of their staff posing with all of their boxes. It had been several years since our last delivery to this hospital, and they were thrilled to receive the gifts to distribute to the kids during these uncertain times when children are more isolated than ever.
A company that even during a global pandemic can take the time to make others’ lives a little more cheerful is why I love Gale. I think Brian McDonough said it best:
Air Force 1“This is what we do. This is what makes us Gale. This is what makes us Cengage. This is what makes us human.”
— Brian McDonough, Senior Vice President, North American Sales, Gale