Our "Needle in a Haystack" moment

Elf Celeste got a call in the office on Wednesday from a frazzled donor with a nearly-impossible request. Could we please retrieve from the Elves Workshop (filled with more than 30,000 gifts at this point) the diamond necklace and earring set for her daughter that was accidentally included with her company's shipment of donated gifts a couple days prior?

A tiny white box you say? Somewhere in our 100,000 square foot space? Please see picture above, taken on Saturday.

In what is now known as Holiday Miracle #2 (#1 was finding a warehouse in the first place), WE FOUND IT! One of our amazing volunteers approached Elf Nana about a very nice gift, obviously over the $30 limit, that she was about to wrap for a child. She asked "Do you think these diamonds are real?"...and in an instant Nana had run back to the office in tears, box in hand, screaming "I found them!".

Needless to say, our frazzled donor (and all the Elves on the hunt) were relieved!

CEOs on Tricycles!

What a crazy day at the Elves Workshop! This year's Executive Elf Challenge proved that you're never too big to act like a kid AND give back to your community at the same time. Lisa Kim, from NBC11 joined us again and offered herself up for auction. The team with the highest donation bid had the privilege of having Lisa on their team and NetApp came prepared! With a bid of $10,000 to the Family Giving Tree, Lisa was an honorary NetApp Executive for the morning.

Our first event was wrapping; teams had 10 minutes to wrap as many books as they could. In the second competition, teams had 10 minutes to make a gingerbread house from a variety of "Elf Approved" items such as graham crackers, frosting, candies, wafer cookies, etc. And finally, the third competition was a tricycle race. Grown men and women on tiny tots trikes...enough said!

Congratulations to the EEC 2008 Champions...Wells Fargo!

(yes...that's Lisa Kim on a tricycle AND wrapped up like a present!)

The Littlest Elf

Dave Mock, of the Nation of Men, has been bringing his daughter Jannina to volunteer at the FGT Warehouse every year for the last four years; an amazing commitment given the fact that Jannina is only 7 years old! You can always find her next to "the big pile" of incoming gifts making sure each present has a wish card securely attached, and she won't hesitate to help fellow volunteers find what they're looking for. Jannina says being an elf is one of her favorite things to do every year, and we couldn't be happier to have her! An Elf no bigger than the pile of gifts behind her...so cute!

The Elves are blogging!

Our Workshop can be found in the middle of the Silicon Valley, so it only seems fitting that the Family Giving Tree Elves should have their own blog, right? So here we go...our first blog post ever!

We're one week away from opening our 100,000 square foot warehouse to start receiving more than 50,000 gifts destined for under priveledged children in our community. We will have two weeks to collect, sort, (check our list twice) and distribute these gifts! Sounds exciting right? It is! We're going to keep updating this blog throughout the process, and we'd like to hear from you too.

If you've hosted a drive, donated money, or volunteered with the Elves...we want to know how much fun you've had. Add your comments to our blog, link to your own pictures and let's keep this going!

We believe philanthropy is an important value; it can be taught during childhood, encouraged in the workplace or shared with friends. To learn more about the Family Giving Tree, check out our website at http://www.familygivingtree.org/.