With all the discouraging news right now, are you in need of a feel-good story?  

We have an inspirational story for you about a company making an impact in the midst of COVID-19 for the patients at Cottage Children’s Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Clinic, both in Santa Barbara, CA.

The Start of Something Big!

Cheeriodicals’ business model is based on corporate teams assembling cheer-up gift boxes (assembly-line style) as part of team-building events. These gift boxes benefit children’s hospitals and Veterans Affairs facilities. In partnership with our corporate clients, more than 100,000 cheer-up boxes have been donated to patients all across the United States and Canada over the last 8 years. But all of that activity came to a sudden halt 2 weeks ago when the reality of COVID-19 impacted all of us. Social distancing made team building events impossible. Necessarily, most of Cheeriodicals’ planned team-building events and subsequent gift deliveries were either canceled or postponed until the Fall.

One of the companies we work with, The Hanover Insurance Group, had a large team building activity scheduled with us in Santa Barbara, California, in April. The event would involve assembling 150 patriotic duffel bags (filled with convenience items, a blanket, tumbler and activity books) and donating them to the Santa Barbara VA facility, along with 56 gift boxes (filled with crafts, puzzles, activity books and toys) for patients at Cottage Children’s Medical Center

So, when it came time to postpone the team building event out of respect for social distancing, The Hanover was understandably concerned about the patients who now would not receive the cheer-up gifts – especially since these patients likely are feeling isolated due to the new COVID-19 hospital visitation restrictions.

The Direct Ship Initiative Launch

To avoid any interruption in delivering the cheer-up boxes to the patients during this critical time, The Hanover asked the Cheeriodicals’ team to ship the 206 gifts directly to the hospitals. Since the company was not able to deliver the gifts in person, as originally planned, a notecard was included with each gift that said, “We hope this gift lifts your spirits and that you enjoy all the fun items inside. We are sending it to you to show that we care about you and your family. Hope this gift brought a smile to your face today! Your friends at The Hanover Insurance Group.”

At Cheeriodicals, we are truly inspired by The Hanover’s generosity. While many companies are being forced to cut back on their community give-back activities amid COVID-19 concerns, The Hanover insisted on moving forward with their plan, helping to brighten the spirits of hospitalized children and Veterans. We can’t wait to share with you photos of the children and Veterans receiving their gifts!

The Hanover Insurance Group was the first company to participate in Cheeriodicals’ new Direct Ship Initiative that bypasses the traditional team-building component of a Cheeriodicals event (in order to respect social distancing), but still, ships much needed cheer-up gifts to entire hospitals full of patients.

If your company would like to learn more about our Direct Ship Initiative during this critical time, click here! We have numerous hospitals that are ready to receive a Cheeriodicals gift delivery!