First of all, let me just take a moment to say thanks to all of your wonderful stories about Paying It Forward over the holidays (Check out the comments on our PIF page).
Just because the holiday season has come to an end, doesn’t mean holiday spirit doesn’t linger on. SeaWorld San Antonio takes the opportunity to pay it forward to organizations regularly. A few non-profit organizations that SeaWorld has relationships with are Big Brothers Big Sisters, San Antonio Food Bank, St. Vincent DePaul Soup Kitchen and United Way.
In recent years, SeaWorld San Antonio compiled a team for Bowl for Kids' Sake, an annual Big Brothers Big Sisters event, to raise funds for the mentoring program.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas
Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas (also on Twitter and Facebook) is headquartered in San Antonio and serves the San Antonio community and surrounding counties by providing mentoring relationships for children, giving them a big brother or big sister to guide them to positive achievement as they grow.
Amy Persyn, Event Specialist at Big Brothers Big Sisters, helps raise money to support the matches between SeaWorld team members and the students. She said it’s most rewarding to see matches take place. “We hear feedback from struggling parents who are grateful to have their children in the program and from matches who have been paired up. It is great to hear the story behind the matches and how the bigs and littles were brought together.”
The San Antonio Food Bank
The San Antonio Food Bank (also on Twitter and Facebook) provides a supply of free food to 440 different agencies that help the needy in the San Antonio community and 16 surrounding counties. They lend a helping hand to families and individuals struck by homelessness, substance abuse, employment, broken families, and much more.
Team Members help out by boxing up food donations to the San Antonio Food Bank
The park is proud to help such a great organization. In fact, this last year we participated in San Antonio Food Bank’s “30 Ways in 30 Days” to fight hunger campaign, where we hosted a canned food drive offering admission discounts to park guests for every ten cans they donated.
Eric. S. Cooper, executive director of the San Antonio Food Bank said, “The San Antonio Food Bank is thrilled to be partnering with SeaWorld San Antonio, an organization committed to bettering the lives of those in our area struggling with hunger and food insecurity.”
The Society of St. Vincent DePaul
The Society of St. Vincent DePaul is a group of individuals who provide spiritual and physical assistance to those in need by serving nutritious meals to the hungry everyday.
SeaWorld San Antonio sends a group of team members to volunteer at the St. Vincent DePaul Soup Kitchen several times throughout the year.
Sylvia Najera, kitchen manager at the soup kitchen, says volunteers are needed daily to prepare and serve the food, especially during the holidays; there is always something to be done. Sylvia describes sitting down for a meal as a small comfort in the day, “at least they can sit down for a meal and relax.”
United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County
The United Way (also on Twitter and Facebook) is a worldwide effort consisting of 45 countries and over 1,300 organizations right here in the United States. They work to improve education, income, health care and to build a stronger community.
SeaWorld San Antonio has partnered with the United Way and helped raise money for the community through projects, silent auctions and generous donations. This past year’s campaign was lead by the park’s Zoological Department who set a goal to raise $50,000, and in the end they exceeded their goal by more then 10 percent. Suzanne Straw, a member of the Zoological Department, said she was personally proud of the department’s planning efforts.
I’m proud our park lends a helping hand whenever we can. Have you ever volunteered your time to any of these organizations or projects in your community? The donation of your time is worth a lot more than you might imagine.
Seeing a child’s expression when he sees Shamu for the first time or watching her amazement as the whales leap through the air reminds me daily of the dreams I had a child. My hope is that children young and old watching “Miracles” will remember their dreams and believe that miracles still happen.
