Fishers Employees G.I.V.E. to Promising Future

Writer / Whitney Mucha

Fishers employees have been giving back to the local community for many years. In 2007, The Town of Fishers G.I.V.E. Committee was created to unite many fundraising efforts that focused on charity-based initiatives.

14296852718_79ff1db9f5G.I.V.E. is an acronym for Generosity, Involvement and Volunteerism by Employees. Each year, employees hold events to give back to Fishers and surrounding communities. Annual events include a food drive benefiting Delaware Township Food Pantry and a toy drive for the Good Samaritan Network. Employees also hold bake sales and raffles, and host the popular huge inflatables booth at the Fishers Freedom Festival to collect money for a partnered organization for the year.

Aimee Ector, Human Resources Assistant for Fishers, shared, “We just completed a really fun event called Pie-in-the-Face, where department heads and elected officials volunteer to get a pie-in-the-face. Town of Fishers employees buy tickets and vote for their favorite contestant. The four contestants with the most votes received a pie-in-the-face at our annual Employee Appreciation Cookout.” Aimee also noted, “Since our inception, we are proud to have given back almost $40,000 to the local community, as well as truckloads of food and toys!”

Many organizations have benefited from the generosity of Fishers Employees and their fundraising efforts. A few of the previous beneficiaries include Chaucie’s Place, Hamilton County Cancer Services, Hamilton County Healthy Families, Hoosier Burn Camp, Humane Society for Hamilton County, Janus Developmental Services, Kammy’s Kause, Prevail and TherAplay. The G.I.V.E. Committee selected Promising Futures of Central Indiana as their choice for their 2014 partnership.

Promising Futures of Central Indiana, a division of Children’s Bureau, Inc., provides resources to develop healthy relationships and create positive changes for youth and families. Terri Parke, Director of Promising Futures and Community Partners for Child Safety, related the history of the organization: “In 1973, a group of concerned citizens met to discuss a lack of facilities for troubled youth in Hamilton County. They incorporated later that year as Hamilton Centers, Inc. Funding from a Lilly Endowment grant allowed the first group home to open in Arcadia in 1975.

Hamilton Centers, later known as Hamilton Centers Youth Services Bureau, was founded to provide shelter for abandoned, neglected, abused, homeless or pre-delinquent youth in Hamilton County. The agency has evolved in response to community needs to provide programs to meet the physical, social, emotional, educational and self-discovery needs of at-risk youth and their families in Hamilton and surrounding counties.” She goes on to say, “As the needs of our young people have changed over time, so have the scope and type of services offered by Promising Futures of Central Indiana. (As of January 1, 2010, Hamilton Centers Youth Service Bureau, Inc. changed its name to Promising Futures of Central Indiana.) In December 2013, Promising Futures merged with Children’s Bureau, Inc.”

The impact Promising Futures has on Hamilton County is noteworthy. The organization has provided preventive and intervention services for over 40 years. Promising Futures provides a variety of services including: Safe Sleep classes, Counseling Services, Supervised Visitation, Anger Management, and a Host Homes Program. The G.I.V.E. Committee donation for 2014 will help support the Safe Sleep Program. The goal of this program is to decrease the number of infant deaths related to unsafe sleep practices. Classes are offered once a month in Hamilton, Tipton, Madison and Hancock counties. These classes provide education on important areas of child sleep safety including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Shaken Baby Syndrome, and safe sleep principles for newborns and infants.

Participants in the Safe Sleep program are pregnant or have an infant under the age of 12 months and have been identified by a community agency or other entity as a family that would benefit from educational and/or financial resources to provide a safe sleep environment for their child. Participants will be offered guidance through materials they can take home, classes they will attend, and the Infant Survival Kit they receive that includes a Pack-n-Play, wearable blanket, pacifier, and safe sleep recommendations.

The G.I.V.E. Committee donation will certainly impact the future health and well-being of Fishers and Hamilton County residents. Fishers employees are making a difference in the community they live in and work in every day. You can make a difference, too! Visit promisingfutures.org and click the “Support Us” tab for links to make monetary donations and to view the wish list of items requested to benefit children and youth experiencing family struggles or abusive situations. The G.I.V.E. Committee is currently reviewing organizations to select for partnership for their 2015 fundraising. If your organization would like to be considered for future fundraising donations, contact Aimee Ector at 317-595-3106 or visit the Fishers website at fishers.in.us.

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