Associate Experience: Aida, Victoria's Secret store manager - Towne Mall, Wichita, Kansas (...more)
Every year as a leader of Victoria’s Secret, I am asked to step up and take part in giving back to the community through our Adopt-a-Mom program. It is always my hope and desire to get involved with local groups and give back to my community. Somehow, I always find the excuse that “Life” got in the way and I haven’t delivered on my own promise. So when the Adopt-a-Mom program comes around, I always look to participate. It’s my way of not feeling so guilty. Having been a single mom, I know that there are many challenges that face these women. These challenges may seem so minor; but when you have no money, no basic necessities, no one to talk to, nothing to call your own, the fear of tomorrow can overwhelm you because HOPE does not exist…. But, everyone has a story. This is ours.
Having worked in the past with Catholic Charities, Joni Miller stepped up to lead our store in the Adopt-a-Mom program. She had previously worked with Joyce Mahoney and the shelter was ecstatic in having us help them again. (The Giving Tree had been a huge success). This local Chapter of CC has helped over 1820 unduplicated women and children receive services. This number is up 19% from 2008. Domestic violence knows no color, no ethnicity.
With the economic downward slope from last year, CC-Harbor House was willing to accept anything, but Joyce really expressed the need for basics. These women and children have nothing when they seek shelter. Joni accepted this challenge and immediately started making plans. She left text messages. She left work mail messages. She used any means of social media to contact our associates and ask them, “What can you do?” and then Joni waited. Associates started to show up with gently worn clothes and the boxes started to fill up. We had enough to start a nice garage sale. Then personal toiletries, started to come in such as shampoos/conditioners, deodorant, toothpaste and brushes, and personal hygiene items. These boxes were slowly starting to take up space in the stockroom.
More texts went out, we were down to the last two days and this was their last opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life. Joni’s final plea, PLEASE ANYTHING. Then the big items started coming in: blankets /sheets, pillows, towels and wash clothes. You guessed it, more boxes in the stockroom.
Pick-up day had finally come. To see the proud moment of Joni’s dedication when she brought the two volunteers to help her get the items from the stockroom was priceless. I have never seen two grown women so excited over such “little things.” They kept making plans of how they were going back to the shelter and would disperse all of these items. Where are they going to place them? Who might need them? And then it finally hit me: these boxes that were taking up space in the stockroom, really weren’t in our way. They were a gentle reminder of where I and many of us have once been and the power that each of us have to make every woman feel SEXY, SOPHISCTICATED and FOREVER WANTED.
CC- Harbor House, in order to protect client confidentiality, does not allow us the opportunity to meet these women. Unexpectedly, on May 13, Joni Miller was approached by a woman who wanted to thank us for the difference we had made in her life. This young woman explained who she was and what it meant to her to have someone care about her.
I am a better leader because I have an incredible, talented group of women, who allow me to do what I love to do. Thank you for making this a success for our Team!!