Fini Concierge Holiday Food Drive

During the next 6 weeks, highlights of the holiday season often include festive times with family, large group meals, gift giving, fun parties and travel. It is also an important time of year for us to remember those within our communities that may need extra help providing for their families and would greatly benefit from our generosity.

"In Eastern Massachusetts:

320,000 people or 7% of the population uses emergency food programs annually.

57% of the people served have to choose between food and rent, medicine, or heat."

This year Fini Concierge is hosting a dry and canned food drive and we are inviting the Fini Concierge community to join our efforts.

Individual Contributions:
Leave us a bag of canned or dry goods and we'll pick it up at no cost to you to add to our donations.

Company Participation:
Get your workplace involved - we know that the end of the year is a busy time for most workplaces and designating someone to organize a charity campaign can be difficult. Fini Concierge will do all of the organizing for you, all you need to do is promote the food drive to your team. Our staff will provide a collection bin and pick up donations as needed. We'll even provide a flyer that you can email and post with information on how to donate.

Our goal is to make giving easy for you and your companies this year - and together we believe that we can make a really big impact on our local communities. All participating individuals and companies will be named when donations are made.

Fini Concierge will be donating food collected to the follow organizations benefiting Greater Boston and Cape Cod:

Greater Boston Food Bank

“The GBFB is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England with a mission to help end hunger in eastern Massachusetts. Each year the Food Bank distributes more than 34 million pounds of food and grocery products to nearly 600 member hunger-relief agencies”. Please click on the following link for more information: The Greater Boston Food Bank

Lower Cape Outreach Council

The Lower Cape Outreach Council “provides emergency assistance of food clothing and financial support to individuals and families in Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet”. The LCOC has opened food pantries in each of the towns they serve. Please click on the following link for more information: The Lower Cape Outreach Council

Preferred Items for Food Donation

• Pasta/Tomato Sauce

• Soups and other canned goods

• Coffee

• Condiments

• Cereals/Rice and other boxed goods

• Turkey's for Thanksgiving

• Toilet Paper, Hand Soaps, Toothpaste, Liquid Laundry Soap

Please contact us to let us know how you would like to get involved. In advance, we appreciate your support of our holiday food drive!

Chantal, Eddie, Marissa and Allison

The Fini Concierge Team

Fini Concierge: Volunteering Policy

Over the years Fini Concierge as volunteered our time to various charity events. It’s a fundamental goal of ours to give back to the communities that we live and work in and something that we want to continue as Fini Concierge grows.

We’ve participated in charity walks and bike rides , delivered pies for Pie in the Sky , and supported many fundraising events with auction gift certificates for Fini Concierge services. At times, Eddie and I still felt that we were far off from our goal to consistently support the many great causes that have so many needs in our community.

Most recently, Liz Moran, one of our team members, volunteered her time for the Caritas Good Samaritan Hospice luncheon and auction fundraiser. When she returned from the event not only did she feel really good about being involved but she had had a really great time – and had felt excited that she was not just representing herself but Fini Concierge.

It was at that time that Eddie and I decided to take a first step in implementing a volunteering program that would grow into the type of community commitment that we eventually hope to make through the business. Our staff is now strongly encouraged to volunteer up to four hours on ‘company time’ per quarter to a charity of their choosing. In an effort to support our team in making this commitment, we discuss volunteer opportunities at staff meetings and share ideas about what they are interested in so that we can help them get matched up with rewarding opportunities.

Our hope is that we are on a pathway to developing a strong community based organization that supports those in need around us and that we create opportunities for our team to make an important impact through volunteering. I know that there are many companies out there that have well developed volunteering programs and I look forward to learning more from them and from our future volunteering experiences.

And the winner is...

Over the last several years we’ve had our share of experiences with good vendors and with some bad ones (and some really, really, really bad ones!). When we find a business that we respect, both for their work and business conduct, we strive to build a strong relationship with them that benefits our business and our clients, and that provides them with repeat business. Through all of our moving coordination, we have had the chance to work extensively with Arlington’s Big Foot Moving and Storage – a fellow small business run by Mike Bavuso. While we have a strong relationship with Mike, we’ve also gotten to know most of his moving staff – who end up being the face of Big Foot Moving and the ones who make or break the company with each client experience.

Because of our positive experiences with the Big Foot team, we continue to refer our clients to them.

Along with Fini Concierge, Big Foot is a member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Last week the organization held their annual Excellence in Business Awards to recognize the achievements and community involvement of their member businesses. Big Foot Moving and Storage was not only nominated as a candidate for Small Business of the Year Award, but won!

I want to congratulate the Big Foot team but more importantly recognize that I understand why they were deserving of the award. Big Foot’s team is dedicated to the same values that we embrace – ensuring that client’s needs come first and that they have a good experience when they work with them. In addition, it’s about developing strong partnerships with fellow vendors and with your community. It’s about doing business in an ethical and responsible way, with a good team of people who enjoy what they do.

Congratulations to the Big Foot Moving and Storage team!