Behind the Scenes: BOMA's Annual Holiday Gift Drive
Friday, December 2, 2016
by: Michele Ignacio, A.O. Reed & Co.

Section: Committee Announcements




The annual BOMA San Diego holiday gift drive is on and runs through December 14.  This event has grown over the years, and luckily for our chapter, we have a core group of volunteers (also known as bin elves) who dedicate their time year after year to ensure a successful outcome.
 
At the beginning of the year, a bin elf is selected and is dubbed the List Master - the individual responsible for overseeing the drive on BOMA San Diego’s behalf.  In September, our Community Service committee and the BOMA office, along with Promises2kids and Boyer Moving, begins planning the logistics for the drive - from finding a location for a temporary gift sorting warehouse to securing a donation for cardboard boxes we use as our holiday bins. American Assets Trust and Teresa Henning were kind enough to donate their space again to sort and distribute donations, and Republic Services donated the bins.
 
In October, the plan is set into motion as volunteers sort through old bins to see which ones are reusable, a donation for new bins is confirmed, and a warehouse is located.
 
In November, the Committee wraps hundreds of bins with holiday paper, drive hosts are registered, and hundreds of bins are delivered to businesses throughout San Diego County.
 
In December, the final phase of the Drive begins - the collection phase.  This year, over 315 bins were delivered throughout San Diego County by Boyer Moving.  Donations collected will be distributed to foster youth throughout San Diego County by Promises2kids.  If you are a bin host and have any questions about the Drive, please reach out to your bin elf.  If you are not sure who your assigned bin elf is, please reach out to our List Master,
Brittany deBoer.
 
We encourage hosts to take photos of their Drive efforts and share them with us.  Please email photos to
Leanne Daly of the BOMA office or share your photos on social media with the hashtag #IAMBOMASD.
 
Stay tuned for our January News Bulletin where we will announce the total donations collected from this Drive.
 
Good luck to all of our drive bin hosts, and a special thank you to all of our volunteers for this event!