#12DaysOfGiving with Rinaldi Homes - Tool Box Project

Tool Box Project

Supporting Start Me Up Niagara

When looking for different organizations to add to our #12DaysOfGiving, I came across an article in the paper about James Symons and his Tool Box Project. After a bit of frustration of trying to find ways to give back to the homeless men in our community and not finding much, he came up with his own initiative. 

James began looking for donations - items of need and items of fun - to build "tool boxes" to give out to men living in poverty. With a soft spot for giving, he wanted everyone to feel appreciated and loved around the holidays. 

After reading this article, I thought it would be the perfect addition to our campaign as we had many initiatives giving back to the women and families in our community already.

We began collecting men's necessities in our office, along with fun items. Our team brought in an abundance of thermal socks, underwear, hats, scarves, gloves, hand warmers, chocolates, puzzle books and more. Then we began creating our tool boxes!

We had an assembly line to create our tool boxes!

James original goal was to have 25 boxes this year, when he came to visit us he had already skyrocketed past that goal with over 100! He has received an outpouring of generosity from the community and many local organizations reaching out to him to try and help. What started as a small project of James wanting to give back, has now grown into a much bigger thing. 

"It's our responsibility as citizens. We have to take care of each other," said Symons in the St.Catharines Standard article. "It's the small things that can make a big difference." Our vision of the #12DaysOfGiving aligned perfectly with James and his way of thinking. I am proud that our team was able to contribute 20 tool boxes this year!

Our tool boxes were all packed and ready to go, even Paco helped!

James, creator of the Tool Box Project, came to collect the tool boxes to deliver to SMUN.