Here is a recap on the Franchising Gives Back trip to the nonprofit Give Kids the World Village, in Kissimmee, Florida, in February 2020.
Steven Romaniello, Senior Advisor at Roark Capital Group, had visited Give Kids The World Village years ago, and the integrity of the charity and the volunteers there stayed with him. Romaniello, along with Foundation Chair Tony Valle, IFA Chair David Barr, and incoming Chair Catherine Monson, were all on stage to discuss the initiative and presented a donation of $2,500 to the charity.
Attendees had lunch that was generously donated by Tropical Smoothie Café and gathered to learn more about the Village, with extensive tours given by staff that highlighted the importance of each detail the location had. Sections of the area are named after children that have visited the charity, such as Marc’s DinoPutt course, which is named after a child, Marc, who visited the Village and had a wish of being a dinosaur. Marc, like many other children, is forever immortalized so others can enjoy the park and to remind themselves of the importance of their volunteer work or visit.
Volunteers traveled to perform various tasks to help the charity, such as beautifying the fences around the location, taking down Christmas decorations, and making props for future holiday celebrations. A big thank you to PuroClean for the shirts.
The experience was wonderful, with an IFA member saying,
“This is the best giving back event I’ve ever done.”
Franchise professional, small business owner, supplier member, or C-suite executive – whatever title members of the IFA may hold personally comes second to that of the giver. Franchising truly does give back, and it was both an honor and privilege to help at Give Kids The World.
Want to be a part of the Give Kids The World IFA initiative? Contact the IFA: franchise.org.