‘Tis Almost The Season

COVID Can’t Stop The Holiday Spirit

‘Tis almost the season for seemingly endless holiday music, celebrations, and food! Despite the weather, it’s one of our favorite times of the year. While COVID has put a halt to many things this year, we won’t let it put a halt on the holiday spirit. The past few years we’ve gone “all-out” for the holidays. Buying over-sized trees for our lobby, hosting a holiday party, and our favorite thing, collecting gifts & money for less fortunate families in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, it seems we won’t be able to have our holiday party this year, but as I said previously, covid can’t stop the holiday spirit! We won’t let it. We take too much pride in being a business for the community. Which means we will definitely be reigniting our holiday giving tree this year. For those unfamiliar, let me give you a quick history lesson.

Hunt Street Station Holiday Giving Tree

Let’s rewind back to the early 1900s. Hunt Street Station was still a police station and a pretty new one at that! Formerly known as the 3rd precinct, it stood as a beacon of the neighborhood. One year, upon the hiring of a new captain, the police officers came up with the idea of a giving tree. The idea was simple, officers would bring in gifts for the less fortunate children in the neighborhood.

Each year, officers would set-up a tree in the lobby, and bring in gifts that would bring smiles to children and families. Although we don’t have too much information other than this, we imagine it brought great joy to both the families and the station. We imagine that at least for a brief moment, the officers lived up to being that beacon of the neighborhood.

Giving Tree Resurrection

Fast forward to 2018, and the reopening of Hunt Street Station as a coworking space. It was important for us to maintain a lot of the integrity of the building, and understand the history of the space. This led us to do tons of research, upon which we stumbled the “Giving Tree”. The idea immediately struck, and months before our first holiday season we knew this was something we should do.

So the last two years that’s what we’ve done. We’ve gotten a giant tree for the lobby, and encouraged members of Hunt Street Station and the community to bring in gifts and money. We partnered with the 7th police precinct the past two years, and they provided us with families to sponsor. In the last two years between cash & gifts, we’ve raised close to $5,000 and sponsored five families. It’s one of our proudest achievements to date.

2020 Plans

Although many of the festivities surrounding the holidays we’ll be unable to do. We still plan on having the giving tree. We will be partnering with the Bailey Park Project, and a few members of the community to identify families and need. COVID has made this year tough on most of us financially, but especially those who already were in need.

We will be asking members of Hunt Street Station, the community, and each of you reading this to help us support as many families as possible. We believe it’s not enough to talk about change or community, we need to practice it as well. That begins with taking action.

We are currently finalizing details and will begin our campaign on November 23rd. To stay in touch, follow us on social media, or sign-up for our newsletter.

Conclusion

‘Tis is almost the season. How do you want to remember this holiday season? What kind of impact do you want to make?

These are the kinds of questions we’re asking ourselves daily. There are families who need our help. We don’t need to be saviors, but we can lend a helping hand. If you are interested in donating or assisting, feel free to contact our community manager at Alex@huntstreetstation.com. You can also contact us at our website, or follow us on social media.

We look forward to what this holiday season brings!