Eleven Georgia Tech employees and their families will have a happier holiday because of the generosity of colleagues working in Institute Planning and Resource Management (IPRM) and other administration and finance units.

“For 12 years, those of us in the Lyman Hall Building have participated in holiday service projects to support local charities,” said Jim Kirk, executive director of Institute budget planning and administration. “But eight years ago, our holiday party planning committee decided we had needs here on campus, based on stories we’d heard about employees who were having a tough time making ends meet.”

So, each October, Kirk reaches out to units across campus and asks supervisors to nominate employees in financial need. The nominees are then matched with sponsoring units from IPRM (which includes the Bursar’s Office and Organizational Development) and beyond; for example, the Office of the President and the Office of Legal Affairs have been strong supporters of the efforts.

“Then, we obtain wish lists from the supervisors of the employees we adopt,” Kirk said. “Some don’t even ask for gifts and just request financial assistance to pay for basic necessities. For all families, we assume that their needs include food, so every family receives food items and grocery store gift cards in addition to gifts and other gift cards.”

To protect the identities of the families receiving support, there is no direct contact between the sponsoring units and the families — all communication goes through the nominated employees’ supervisors.

Once all of the donations have been collected in the Budget Office, the supervisors are notified and make arrangements to pick up the gifts and deliver them to the families in need.  

“This year, we filled up an entire office and cubicle with gifts and collected nearly $2,700 in gift cards,” Kirk said. “Despite the difficult financial times and employees going without pay raises for several years, people have been extremely generous in sharing what they have with our fellow Georgia Tech employees who are not as fortunate.”

If your unit is interested in becoming involved, contact Kirk at jim.kirk@business.gatech.edu.