Viwinco Summer of Awareness & Giving
2020 has made prevalent a variety of social, economic and health crises worldwide. Through these troubling times, there have been many individuals and families that were impacted and still continue to be impacted today. Viwinco would like to do its part by contributing to local initiatives through our summer charity event “Summer of Awareness & Giving”. For this event, we have chosen to support 3 charitable foundations that provide services and assistance throughout the local areas. The Charities we have chosen to support are: Helping Harvest, Opportunity House and West Park Cultural Center. The event will run for June, July and August, with each month assigned a charity. We will be giving $1 for every window and door we sell, to the charity of that month.
Helping Harvest — June
Helping Harvest works diligently to provide over 7,000,000 pounds of food annually to over 300 charitable programs, that feed the hungry throughout Berks and Schuylkill county. They work closely with local food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters to provide over 1,300,000 meals annually. Programs such as Senior Food Totes, Produce 4 Kids and their Weekender Program ensures that low-income senior citizens and children do not go hungry. To mitigate the economic impact that COVID-19 has had on families, we wanted to support Helping Harvest in their efforts to provide meals to those in need.
Opportunity House — July
Opportunity House changes lives by educating, housing, feeding and empowering people to stand on their feet. Their Emergency Shelter Program offers a rehabilitative approach that provides services to help the homeless individuals and families become self-sufficient. Residents at the shelter regularly meet with their case managers to develop a plan to reach a goal of self-sufficiency. These plans often include counseling, professional development, childcare, mental health and drug and alcohol treatment services, and money management.
In addition to their Emergency shelter, Opportunity House also has a 24/7 childcare program to meet the needs of low-income families. They also offer assistance to sexual abuse victims under the age of 18 through their Children’s Alliance Center, and provide supportive services to veteran families to assist in maintaining or obtaining permanent housing.
West Park Cultural Center — August
Founded in 2001, West Park Cultural Center (WPCC) seeks to help revitalize and maintain the vibrant West Park community. WPCC uses arts and culture as a central tool in programs that help youth tap their creative and academic potential. They provide a variety of school programs such as ceramics and dance classes in addition to their popular summer arts and nature program, Camp Ginkgo. Two of their Saturday programs, danceLogic and Teen Film, provide education for practical skills. danceLogic is a two-part program for teen girls that combines dance and computer coding. Teen Film teaches youths how to use professional-grade camera equipment and learn video editing on industry-leading software. In 2008, WPCC started the annual West Park Arts Fest, which brings together up to 30 arts, cultural and community partners to create a free, family-friendly event with the theme “Friends Across Cultures”.
Moving Forward
We are excited to be able to offer assistance to others and commend these organizations on the work they do and the services they provide. We look forward to following through with this initiative and would like to thank you all for your support and contributions through this time. For more information on the organizations above please visit their websites at the links below.
