We are gathering toys for the Austin Children’s Shelter!

Ignite! Learning decided to help out a local charity, Austin Children’s Shelter.  Here is my personal story of how it has been going.

I woke up this morning to pick through my closet full of items I knew I would never use again.  This “clean-out” wasn’t only attributed to mild OCD, but the Ignite! Learning office has been collecting fun toys, educational games, and other presents for a toy drive to benefit Austin Children’s Shelter.  For a few weeks there has been a festive box in their friendly lobby that has been stacking up rather quickly.

I wasn’t surprised to find classics like Battleship, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, and a whole archive of Sunday afternoon past-the-time activities.  When cleaning out a closet of mine this morning, I realized that I would contribute one of the greatest games of all time (at  least in my opinion), Scrabble.  I have always been a fan of vocabulary progressing games, and I figure some wonderful children could find use and appreciation of the timeless entertainment.  We joked as I brought in the board game because there was already a junior version of Scrabble in the collection of donations.  Some would argue my old-school adult version of the game is a little to difficult for kids to play with, but I would like to give kids in this day and age the benefit of the doubt.

I was happy to pass on a legacy board game that had a staple in my curiosity and obsession with learning more.  The most powerful part of extended your vocabulary is your growing ability to truly explain something to anyone and understand things very well in return.  It allowed me to look at all educational situations and exercises as they were a game like Scrabble.  I proudly pass off the potential for any youthful person to see the fun in education like I did.

With all that we are providing, what feels the best is to be associated and contribute to an organization that provides such a safe, nurturing, learning and healing environment for all children who deal with complex issues of abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence and child abuse.  As a company who strives to improve learning environments in schools, we appreciate the dedication Austin Children’s Shelter has to keep students and kids safe outside of the school environment.

We hope and ask that you find a local effort that you can support and contribute anything you have.  I am sure we all have some closets or storage bins that need some cleaning.

I proudly work with Ignite! Learning and hope that your school, company or household can get involved with the approaching holidays.

Service Above Self,

John and the friendly Ignite! Crew.

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