One hundred dollars, to many people, is not an overly significant amount of cash. Yes, it can be a trip to the grocery store or a really good night out on the town, but it does not have the impact that something larger like $1000 does. For a business like a self storage facility a $100 might cover one shift’s pay for the manager.
Around Christmas time a self storage company in the Dallas, Texas, area decided to see just what they could do with $100 and the results were touching to say the least.
Doug Hunt, the owner of Access Self Storage, has his company do like many self storage facilities do; they participate in whatever charitable endeavors that come their way (that they can) throughout the year. At Christmas time this past year he decided to present them with a special challenge along those lines.
At the company’s Christmas party he tasked his six facility managers to see what they could do with $100. The only stipulation that he gave was that it had to be used to make a difference in the life of someone less fortunate.
The stories that each told were very different in scope. One was not sure what to do with the money, but when they mentioned the task to Mary Williams, president of Hands of Mercy, when she came in one day to help work on another charitable endeavor she gave them an idea. As a result a local grandmother was able to give her five grandchildren a merry christmas.
A couple of the other Access Self Storage managers simply gave the money to people in need. One couple gave it to a mother who due to unfortunate circumstances was forced to live out of her car. Another gave theirs to a man who they knew had to rummage through garbage for things he could sell to have money for food.
One facility took a different route and found the holiday spirit to be alive in many of the facility’s tenants. When they asked the tenants for ideas, instead of suggesting they spend the money on something for them (the tenants) they recommended a local family, a single mother of eight that needed help.
Another facility donated theirs to a couple they met who had moved to the city with hopes of a new job only to have all they had stolen from them by a mugger.
“We wanted to let our employees share in the opportunities we have as a company to make in difference in our cities,” company owner Doug Hunt says.
Perhaps the bigger story here is not that the people at Access Self Storage care about the communities they are in, but that it does not take much to make a difference in a person’s life. You just have to care enough to find the person and then follow through.
Sources Used:
“Access Self Storage Brings Christmas to Needy Families.” PR.com; 16 January 2011.
“Resolve to Make a Difference This Year and Access Self Storage Will Help.” PR.com; 16 January 2011.