Vrakas kicked off summer with a new tradition ~ monthly charity lunches!
Each month we have been rotating departments to choose a charity to support. The firm purchases lunch and employees make a donation.
Starting in June, we kicked off our first lunch in support of Tri My Best Triathlon hosted by Tender Touch Therapy. This charity was chosen by our Kenosha office and hits close to home, as Audit Associate, Tyler Henkel’s wife works at Tender Touch and the couple has been volunteering at the Triathlon for the past five years.
The 7th annual Triathlon was held in August and is a ‘swim/bike/run’ for children (5 & up) and young adults with developmental disabilities including Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, global delays, etc. All abilities are welcome and all athletes are paired up with volunteers to encourage, assist and ensure safety.
We raised over $500 to support the Tri My Best Triathlon!
{Candid shot of Tyler and his wife, Jessie, volunteering}
In July, our Small Business Accounting Department chose two humane animal welfare societies to support.
Our Brookfield office donated to HAWS – Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha and our Kenosha office donated to Safe Harbor Humane Society of Kenosha.
We raised over $400 for animals in need!
This past month our Tax Department chose a charity near and dear to the entire firm’s hearts … Blessings in a Backpack!
For the past six years, Vrakas has supported Blessings in a Backpack by dedicating an annual volunteer day to assist in packing bags of food for the coming school year. Throughout the past six years, Vrakas has packed nearly 30,000 bags of food!
Unfortunately, with the onset of COVID-19, Blessings does not have a need for packers like they used to. Blessings had to recreate how they approach their process and started purchasing prepackaged weekend food items that are delivered right to the schools.
We are excited to have found a different way to support Blessings. With our charity lunch, we raised nearly $600 for Blessings in a Backpack – Waukesha County Chapter and Kenosha County Chapter!
Since the charity lunches have been such a hit, we will continue to run them throughout the fall! Stay tuned for an update this winter 🙂