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Downing & Gayle Insurance Services has been selected to receive the 2010 Giving Network Agency of the Year Award.
Agency principals, Allen and Pamela Gayle, work all year as Triangle Community Relations Volunteers for Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child collects shoeboxes filled with toys, school supplies, and personal items and then distributes them to children who are suffering due to natural disaster, war, poverty, or other desperate situations.
This year Allen and Pamela personally sponsored two “shoebox packing parties,” soliciting the help of volunteers from several neighboring communities. As a result, they were able to pack over 2,000 shoeboxes with items they collected and purchased during the year. Nancy Kontio, a CSR at the agency, also helped by wrapping over 100 of the shoeboxes with Christmas paper. Allen and Pamela also helped others in the community sponsor their own packing parties, including a local radio station. Allen designed, ordered, and distributed 3,800 custom-made shoeboxes for area churches and schools to participate in this project. In addition, the agency has also contributed to the community by participating in a community safety day where they provided ERIE fire safety materials and by sponsoring Thanksgiving meals for local families.
Pamela says, “Having been helped by a civic group as a child for Christmas during my father’s illness, I am especially grateful to be able to repay their kindness by paying it forward. We’ve already received our reward through seeing the children’s smiling faces! A little can go a long way to make a difference in the life of a child.”
Allen and Pamela have chosen Samaritan’s Purse International Relief as the recipient of ERIE’s $2,500 donation. Samaritan’s Purse provides assistance to victims of natural disaster, war, disease, and famine as well as community development and vocational programs in impoverished areas.
