In February, two groups of volunteers assembled hundreds of Greentrike Cares Kits for children at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Greentrike Cares offers children, staff, and families at Mary Bridge, Tacoma Rescue Mission, and YWCA Women’s Support Shelter easy accessibility to thoughtfully prepared, play-based activities to infuse fun and joy into their experiences. This round of kits will be working on social-emotional self-portraits using lots of drawing mediums.
One couple, Dolly and Saer, assembled nearly 200 kits in February alone. Dolly and Saer have volunteered with us on many occasions, assembling kits and assisting with our annual Gala through KeyBank’s Neighbors Make a Difference Day. They are both passionate about helping our community, working at the local food bank, sorting donations at the Tacoma Rescue Mission, and cleaning parks with Tacoma Metro Parks to name a few. Last summer the couple was even inspired to start a donation with friends and family to ship school supplies to young elementary students in the Philippines.
“We love knowing that these kits are for children to play with. It provides a fun experience to read, play and be able to learn and be creative from the kits is very touching and what fuels us on wanting to continue being a part of the Greentrike program.”
Dolly is a Solutions Engineer at KeyBank and Saer is a Co-Owner at MSM Deli. The couple likes to hike, travel, golf, and learn, and feels closely connected to the Tacoma community. They define their community as people who share the same background and passion to create positive change.
“As a child I had a single home upbringing with my mom and younger brother. Seeing as my mom was struggling to make ends meet, she looked upon the community for resources for everyday necessities as well as school supplies for us. Fast forward to the future I would like to give back to the community and continue the cycle of giving back to those in need as well as putting in volunteer time and donations to the Tacoma community and beyond.” – Dolly
“The Tacoma community is amazing. I came from Yemen in 1997 and honestly as I got older I understood why my dad fell in love with the city. Tacoma might be small but the Tacoma community has one of the biggest hearts!” – Saer
The other group of volunteers is a United States Air Force squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord organized by Jaidin, who has organized squadron volunteers to assemble kits on several occasions. He enjoys visiting the Children’s Museum at JBLM with his family and is always asking to do more in the community.
We see children and youth to be our future and believe in increasing access and opportunity for children and youth to positively impact our community. If you’d like to volunteer with us, you can learn more about our current volunteer opportunities and fill out the volunteer contact and application form here.
“Greentrike has changed our views, we love volunteering and seeing other members of the Tacoma community coming together to volunteer and donate!” – Dolly
Greentrike Cares Kits are made possible thanks to our generous funders and supporters, including Tacoma Creates, Mary Bridge Brigade, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, Humanities Washington, Rotary Club of Tacoma #8, Tacoma Arts Commission, and Wells Fargo Foundation.
