Boys & Girls Club, Cricket Wireless surprise 3 Sioux Falls families for Giving Tuesday
Three families from the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire were given $5,000 in gifts on Tuesday as part of Cricket Wireless’ 12 Days of Cricket.
The families were nominated by those at the Boys & Girls Club and selected for their roles in the community as well as their kindness and character, CEO Stacy Jones said.
Cricket’s giving campaign was launched in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America on Nov. 14 for World Kindness Day and has since given away $140,000 in gifts this year.
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The Sioux Falls families are among others across the country who are recipients of the campaign.
“We're incredibly grateful for our individual donors and our corporate sponsors that support us,” Jones said. ”We're also incredibly grateful for your support of our families, and that is a big reason that we're here today.”
The Northern Plains region was given a $5,000 budget to spend on the families, which included things like gas cards and grocery cards as well as gifts and personal items the families put on their wishlists.
Angel Charma’s two children, Lawrence and Gloria, received a new bunk bed, for example.
“These gifts mean a lot to my family. We’re very happy to receive something like this and to be chosen,” Charma said. ”It’s not just that we were lucky, but by the grace of others, so we thank you.”
Gloria was also excited to get a pink, sparkly lunch bag, and her brother Lawrence was given a new pair of snow boots.
“It was really great and amazing how we got all these presents,” he said. “It was really fun, and I think we should do this again for some other families.”
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Daniel Baker and his two daughters, Berlin and Amelia, received gifts like a doll house, swimming lessons and a membership to Sky Zone.
“It means so much to our family in all aspects, but I think what it represents more is these gifts to a few individual families represent the hundred if not thousands of families just in this community that are struggling,” Baker said. “I think this just gives a little sparkle of hope and a reminder that good things can happen.”
This is the company’s third year of the 12 Days campaign, but this is the first time the Northern Plains region (which includes South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska) was able to partake in it.
Sioux Falls’ Boys & Girls Clubs were chosen out of the entire region because it was one of the first markets of the newly developed Cricket.
“We’re also really impressed with the Boys & Girls Clubs here in Sioux Falls,” Cricket’s territory sales manager Martin Hesy said. “They do a really nice job and really serve the community well, and I couldn’t think of a better organization to partner with.”
To continue with the spirit of giving, Cricket Wireless is also holding a sweepstakes from now until Jan. 5 where people will have a chance to win $2,000 each week by scanning a QR code at any of Cricket’s brick-and-mortar locations.
“Our philosophy and curriculum at Cricket is community,” regional marketing director Tommy Tzanetakos said. “And this time of the year really allows us just to give back to those communities in which we serve and do business day in, and to help make their holidays brighter and allow them to focus on what matters most.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Boys & Girls Club families get gifts from Cricket on Giving Tuesday
