3-8-21
During the holiday season, when many people are shopping for gifts for friends and family, employees of a Van Nuys company added the children and families served by Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) to their lists.
CCRC distributes a holiday meal, books and toys every year to hundreds of families in northern Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County. L3Harris, a technology company, is an ongoing supporter of CCRC and has been donating supplies and money for about five years.
“I became aware of CCRC because my nieces were enrolled in programs there,” L3Harris Project Admin. Maria Cervantes says. “So when I became a representative for our LIFT (L3Harris Investing For Tomorrow) program, we were looking for causes and social programs to get involved in and CCRC is near and dear to my heart.”
L3Harris typically holds on-site fundraising events to help non-profits like CCRC but this year, due to the pandemic, many of the company’s employees are working remotely. Even still, employees chipped in their own money to support CCRC, raising $670 to purchased books and toys with a focus on Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM).
“During discussions with leadership, we said of course families are going to be hard pressed to provide gifts for their kids during the holidays and we wanted to give them a little joy, a little normal,” Maria says.
“We’ve been supporting CCRC with the back to school program for a couple years now and wanted to help during the holidays because of COVID,” Cristina Diaz, a member of the L3Harris administration, says. “The pandemic was a driving force to donate. We were very much aware of the situation for families.”
For the staff at L3Harris, supporting an agency like CCRC in our efforts to strengthen families aligns with the company’s focus on community. For employees at the tech company, Cristina says, knowing that they made a difference in the lives of local children and families was a priceless gift this past holiday season.
“One of the things that hit home was last year when we did the back to school drive, we received a video of kids opening CCRC gifts and school supplies and it was really beautiful, something we all loved to see,” Cristina says.
