Making Wishes Come True

Join Escoe Bliss and our colleagues at MacKenzie Corporation on April 26th, Make-A-Wish® Orange County will host the fourth annual Walk For Wishes® event at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine.  More than 2,000 walkers will participate in this event to support Make-A-Wish in their mission to grant wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

WHY: Powered by wish families, volunteers, donors and friends, Walk For Wishes® is a nationwide Make-A-Wish fundraiser that celebrates the thousands of wishes that have already been granted, while raising funds for future wishes. By participating in one of the two walks taking place in Orange County and the Inland Empire this spring, you can help bring the life-changing impact of a wish to a child battling at life-threatening medical condition.
WHO: Anyone can be part of this special day! Individuals or teams can walk and join the festivities for a $25 registration fee per person. A Walk For Wishes T-shirt will be given to all registered participants!
WHEN and WHERE:
ORANGE COUNTY: Saturday, April 26
8 a.m. – Registration/Check-in
9 a.m. – Party begins!
Orange County Great Park- Irvine, CA
See directions below or go to: http://www.ocgp.org/visit/hours-directions/
* Important: There is currently no physical address to the Orange County Great Park. Please do not rely on GPS systems or online maps!
By participating in the Walk, you will raise funds to help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. This fun walk and festival is an opportunity to be a part of something that can literally change the lives of children here in Orange County and the Inland Empire! It’s your chance to inspire, be inspired and help turn dreams into reality!
Registration is $25/person and includes a T-shirt and entry into the festival the day of the Walk.
You can register as an individual or a team. There are also opportunities available for Corporate Sponsorship—visit http://ocie.wish.org/content/walk-for-wishes-2014 for details! While the Walk is not competitive, there will be prizes for individuals and teams who reach fundraising milestones!
Types of Teams:
Corporate Teams: Teams comprised of employees, friends and family from local businesses.
Friends and Family Teams: Teams made up of friends, family and community members. This could be your family, your soccer team, your book club, or just a group of friends who love to have fun together!
Individuals: Don’t have a team to walk with? That’s okay! You can walk as an individual and be an important part of our event!  Join Team / Donate Here

April 1st - 5th: The Annual Escoe Bliss Suit Drive to Benefit Working Wardrobes

Escoe Bliss is proud to support Working Wardrobes in their mission to empower men, women, young adults, and veterans overcoming difficult challenges to confidently enter the workforce and achieve self-sufficiency.

Please join with us this year and donate your gently-worn professional clothing! (See below for giving guidelines.)

April 1st - April 5th

8 AM - 5 PM

Escoe Bliss Professional Resources

16520 Bake Pkwy., Suite 155

Irvine, CA 92618

GIVING GUIDELINES

• All sizes of men’s and women’s clothing
• Plus sizes are especially needed
• Must be clean and on a hanger
• Clothes should be in good condition: No tears, holes, broken zippers, etc.

ACCESSORIES

• Purses and shoes
• Ties, belts, scarves, and costume jewelry
• Men’s and women's shoes and women’s purses are in short supply and most needed

Questions or concerns? Please contact Regina Feldmann, Brand Ambassador & Suit Drive Coordinator. 949.336.6444

Joy to the World!

Over the weekend I watched a movie on the ABC Family channel that seemed to be another updated version of the movie "A Christmas Carol." Although the main character is a young successful woman in the entertainment industry versus the one we all know, Ebenezer Scrooge, the message was the same. Every holiday season starting with Thanksgiving seems to be all hustle and bustle. Gratitude is always brighter at this time of year a.k.a. the "spirit of the season." Have you stopped to take it all in and remember the reasons of the season? We challenge ourselves and you to make everyday a gratitude day - pay it forward in anyway you can. Not only monetarily; you can give the give of time, the gift of a smile, the gift of a thank you, the gift of a referral, the gift of a compliment, or many more.

At the end of each year the team at Escoe Bliss reflects on our accomplishments and those that include the extended Escoe Bliss family (our subcontractors and consultants). The year of 2010 has been a year of recovery for most individuals, small and large businesses, and the nation in general. We feel blessed to have another year of business (celebrating 17 years in 2011) and a network of clients, consultants, vendors and partners that bring so much joy to all of us. For this, we say THANK YOU!!

If you can and would like to contribute your time or make a donation for the holiday season (and throughout the new year,) here are a list of some of our favorite local charities & non-profits that could use your support.

- Working Wardrobes
- Families Forward
- Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation
- The Let it Be Foundation
- Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- Alzheimer's Association

Please feel free to post comments with your charity of choice to share with others and what the holidays mean to you!

Wishing you Happy Holidays and may they bring you much joy!

Changing lives in our community

In our previous blogs leading up to the Escoe Bliss Suit Drive benefiting Working Wardrobes we played up the hero bit by describing what you would normally see on TV or in the movies; a character wearing a mask and cape with super human powers. We got your attention right? In actuality the definition of hero is:

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2.a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal

These definitions describe all of you! Thank you to all in the Orange County community who donated gently used professional clothing, shoes, ties, belts, purses and even jewelry for men and women in crisis and in need of securing a new career and starting a new chapter in life. Our goal was to collect 500 items and because of your kindness and support we far exceeded our goal, just in time for the Women's Day of Self Esteem on Sunday, May 16th! See our blog on why and how Jerri Rosen, Founder and CEO created her first event.

Please help us in giving a special THANK YOU to the following partners who hosted suit drives on location, donated lunch, and raffle prizes to make this event such a success.

KPMG, Cypress
Wachovia, Irvine
BJ's Restaurant, Irvine Marketplace
BJ's Restaurant, Huntington Beach
Parkville Insurance, Whittier
Administaff, Irvine
ASTD OC, Irvine

For more information on Escoe Bliss' charity of choice and how you can get involved, please visit Working Wardrobes. We also see ourselves as Working Wardrobes ambassadors, so please feel free to contact us for partnership opportunities or upcoming events.

Again, we could not have made this happen without all of your generosity and donations. It takes many to make a village and in one week, we built an entire city! (Gotham?? - okay one last hero reference.)

Check out our photo album of some pictures of the week's events. Enjoy!

A REAL Orange County Superhero!

This is your week to grab your mask, cape, and tights and become a superhero! Whether your power is time travel, super human strength or flying you can SAVE THE DAY by joining us at the Escoe Bliss Suit Drive benefiting Working Wardrobes this Wednesday, 4/21 from 11:30am-1:00pm for donating, lunch and mingling with your community. For the first time, our Suit Drive will be hosted at the amazing Working Wardrobes facility. What a great opportunity to see the organization in action!

One of our personal heroes is Jerri Rosen, CEO and founder of Working Wardrobes. We asked Jerri why and how she started Working Wardrobes. This is what she had to say.

"I had been on another board that had a belief that volunteers would get their acknowledgement when they got to heaven – and after 4 years of hard work, my friends and I decided to do something else. We did enjoy volunteering and wanted to do something that made an impact. We were all entrepreneurs and one gave me a story about a women in North Carolina who had a retail store. She saved outfits that didn’t sell for women who were victims of domestic violence who needed something nice to wear to a court appearance or hopefully a job interview.

Got us thinking (20 years ago) of how nobody talked about domestic violence and the impact it had on women. We wanted to do something that would help the women get into the workforce. While we didn’t have a store, we felt we could focus on getting the women job ready.

I wrote a marketing plan for the original Day of Self-Esteem (hair and make up styling, wardrobing, skill set workshop), began recruiting friends and we took nearly a year to plan the event. We knew nothing!! But it was spectacular to serve 67 women from 6 safe shelters. We had only intended to host the event once but after a celebration party, it was clear the volunteers loved it. And the rest is history!"

This year Working Wardrobes is celebrating their 20th anniversary and serving over 5,000 clients (men and women) in Orange County from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, including Welfare-to-Work, alcohol & substance abuse, domestic violence, transitional homelessness, catastrophic illness and other life crises.

For more details on donating and to RSVP, please visit our previous "Superhero" blog.

Not sure you can can attend? We are accepting donations at our Irvine office this week until Friday, 4/23, please call to advise of a time you will be dropping by at 949-336-6444.

If you don't have a suit in your closet you can still donate. Click here for more information on what kinds of professional clothing is accepted.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at Wednesday's event!

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Escoe Bliss Spring Suit Drive Time!

• Purses and shoes
• Ties, scarves, and costume jewelry
• Men's belts and shoes are always a great need

This message will self-destruct in 3...2...1...

KA-BOOM!!!!!!!

We hope you will save the date and join us!

In the face of economic adversity everyday people must step up and become SUPERHEROS! Our villain is a struggling economy and it's our responsibility to tell this evil-doer that he's not welcome in thriving Southern California!

The Escoe Bliss Spring Suit Drive to benefit Working Wardrobes is coming back and it's bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.

As we move into the future, we're discovering new frontiers and building new alliances that are sure to increase the impact that this event will have our local economy. Wachovia, Administaff, and KPMG are joining us and with our combined powers we are aiming to gather at least 500 gently used professional clothing items to benefit Working Wardrobes. Would you like to join us on our mission? Every contributor and every extra item of clothing will bring the good guys one step closer to victory!

We know that there are other superheroes out there that are waiting to get a piece of the action, so here is our diabolical plan (make sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands):

• All sizes of men's and women's clothing
• Plus sizes are especially needed
• Must be clean and on a hanger
• Clothes should be in good condition:
• No tears, holes, broken zippers, etc.

ACCESSORIES

When: Wednesday, April 21st 11:30 AM - 1 PM
Where: Working Wardrobes, 3030 Pullman, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
How: You can help make a difference by donating your gently used professional clothing. Lunch will be provided. Please follow the Giving Guidelines below. Only professional clothing items are needed. Please RSVP by Friday, April 16^th to Jolynn Atkins, jatkins@escoebliss.com

GIVING GUIDELINES

A Working Wardrobes Win-Win!

Spring has arrived and new beginnings and new growth are blooming all around us. Now is the time to open up your hearts and also your closets. This is an opportunity to bring new life to those gently used professional clothing items that have been chronically hibernating in your closet all winter. Escoe Bliss and The Upper Crust have teamed up to bring you our inaugural, Give and Greet luncheon. Join other professionals in your community to support the Working Wardrobes organization. Working Wardrobes is an independent, nonprofit organization, that helps men and women in crises re-enter the workforce by providing them with professional attire and career development. The Upper Crust will be providing a delicious assortment of salads and pastries. No admission for this event, simply bring a donation of gently used professional clothing items. We look forward to seeing you at this inspiring event. Together we can cultivate beautiful opportunities for others!

DATE: Wednesday, April 15, 2009
TIME: 11:30 AM – 1 PM
PLACE: Escoe Bliss Professional Resources

16520 Bake Parkway, Suite 155

Irvine, 92618

RSVP: By Thursday, April 9th
Regina Gormanly
Office Assistant & Suit Drive Coordinator
(949) 336-6444 x200
rgormanly@escoebliss.com

Interested in supporting Working Wardrobes, but unable to attend the Give and Greet Luncheon? No problem! Escoe Bliss will be holding the Annual Spring Suit Drive all week long! Donations will be accepted, April 13th – April 17th from 8 AM – 5:30 PM.