BNSF Logistics has more than 35 offices across North America, and each one has its own culture and ways to celebrate the season. We wanted to share a small look into the fun a few of our offices have had spreading holiday cheer this year!
Rogers, Arkansas, parties at Dave & Busters!
And St Louis, Missouri, took time to make their office especially festive with door clings, a Christmas tree, and so many stockings!
Palatine, Illinois, proudly participates in Secret Santa Inc, and, this year, they were able to grant Christmas wishes for five Chicago-area youth. The office all pitched in and provided gifts for these children who may not be receiving anything else for Christmas this year.
They also have an office pot luck and white elephant gift exchange.
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Because of the past support from BNSFL Versailles, we “adopted” five children to buy gifts for this year – more than we have any other year! This year we helped an entire family with boys and girls ranging from 8 to 17 years old. We took the lists of the needs and wants for each child and made ornaments to hang on our tree in the break room. Each child receives the boring gifts of pants, shirts, and socks. But, of course, there are fun gifts too, from Legos and baby dolls to headphones, tools, and art supplies.
In less than two weeks, only four ornaments were left on the tree. Then one more caring heart bargained with us that they would take the last ornaments if we adopted one more of the few children left on the list of families approved to receive help. So we did! We were able to provide eight gifts per child plus many more extra gifts to fill in the lists of other children as needed – the best turn out yet! We collected more than 75 items. We are so happy to know that there will be parents that can smile and sigh with relief as they watch their children open gifts on Christmas morning."
- John Meyer, Branch Manager
BNSFL's Flower Mound, Texas, office held their annual Holiday Luncheon, and this year, Addison Jordan, the son of Vicki Jordan, one of our awesome sales reps, added joy to the occasion by playing Christmas music on his saxophone. It was a such special treat!
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A few of the team got together for a Christmas sock exchange where they each bought a pair of festive socks and filled them with small treats and traded them with a fun game.
The highlight of our season was partnering with a local charity, Grace Christmas Cottage, to help make the Holiday special for families in need. Grace provides many services including emergency assistance, transitional housing, seasonal programs, and a food pantry.
Grace Christmas Cottage is a program that provides families with Christmas gifts for their family at no cost to them. What makes the program unique is that they allow clients to make their own selections of gifts for their family. Each family is given a budget based on their family size. They "shop" in the cottage among age appropriate items that are given a dollar value that is approximate to Walmart. This way, they not only get to choose the gifts that they know their children will like, but they are learning to budget and understand the value of what they are being given. It really helps the parents maintain a sense of dignity since they are able to maintain a level of privacy.
Thanks to all our colleagues at BNSF Logistics for making this a great place to work, full of holiday cheer.