During this holiday season, you’ll probably see a collection box filled with toys, cleaning supplies, or clothing, in the lobby of your neighborhood Isaac’s.  What’s that about?

Well, at Isaac’s, part of our mission statement is to give back to our communities.  We, in the Central Office, encourage the stores to figure out their own way to live the mission, without telling them exactly what to do.  Many choose to benefit charities by collecting stuff during the holidays, and that’s why you probably see a drop-off box sitting in the lobby!

Here is a list of some of the things employees in our 20 restaurants are doing to put our mission statement in to action:

Isaac’s in Greenfield
Collecting new and used toys for Goodwill
Employees volunteer to help sort and distribute donated toys at the Boys & Girls Club.

Isaac’s in Downtown Lancaster
Collecting hats and mittens for the Water Street Rescue Mission

Isaac’s in Spring Ridge
Adopting a family from the Beacon house. It consists of a single mother and 4 boys all under the age of ten.

Isaac’s in Lionville (Exton)
Employees are organizing a giving tree. They have a nondenominational evergreen in their lobby with ornaments on it with items to buy and bring back. The organizations are- Women of Hope, Holy Family Home, Birthright, Crisis Residential, and Bethesda Project. They are doing this through Sts. Simon and Jude Church in West Chester.

Isaac’s in Paxton Street (Harrisburg near Bass Pro)
Employees “adopted” a family through the YWCA of the greater Harrisburg area.  They are putting the wish list on an angel tree in the lobby to encourage customers to help out, as well.

Isaac’s in Hershey
Employees have chosen the Leukemia and & Lymphoma Society. They are collecting art supplies (markers, crayons, paint, colored paper, etc.) for children with cancer, to be distributed in the various hospitals.

Isaac’s in Thornbury (West Chester)
Employees adopting a family through Chester County Cares. There are seven children they are getting gifts for.
Employees will be volunteering in a local soup kitchen.

Isaac’s in West York
Collecting food for the York County Food Bank
Gives soup every week to the York Rescue Mission.
Will be sponsoring a family for Christmas, where the employees collect gifts for a particular family.

Isaac’s in Silver Spring (Mechanicsburg)
For the third year, employees are “adopting” a family from the Domestic Violence Shelter. This is a family who has been safely housed at the shelter for a while and is ready to go on their own. They have their wish list and employees will be buying and wrapping the gifts for mother and children.

Isaac’s in South York Plaza
Monthly contributes soup to Our Daily Bread soup kitchen.
Collecting food for the York County Food Bank

Isaac’s in West Shore (Lemoyne)
Collecting Toys for Tots

Isaac’s Central Office Staff
Collecting supplies for Clare House
Volunteering to clean up and paint at the North Museum

In addition to all this, we recently completed our employee United Way pledge drive for 2008, and we achieved an amazing 86% participation rate, with an average pledge of almost $100 per employee!

Check out what’s going on at your local Isaac’s, I am sure they are collecting for a worthy cause.  They would be extremely grateful if you would help out with a contribution of your own next time you drop by for a sandwich and soup.  And the world would be blessed through your actions.  Happy Holidays, everyone!