Community Service
The Master Custom Builder Council
believes in giving back to the community and are proud to support
many of the local organizations in Central Florida.
GIVE KIDS THE WORLD:
Close your eyes and picture a child’s
idea of heaven. There’d be free ice cream and Christmas
every week, a place for puppet shows and pool parties, and
maybe even a gingerbread house so big you could actually walk
inside. As it happens, that’s exactly the kind of wonderland
that 68,000 children with life threatening illnesses have found
at Give Kids The World Village located near Orlando, Florida,
a resort that caters to all their needs and is free of charge
for the families. It has a water park, a castle, and even a
train station.
The builders, who are
members of the Master Custom Builder Council, are proud to
have been an important part of the expansion at “Give
Kids The World, and had the privilege to build twenty-one new
villas at the village. The MCBC continues to partner with Give
Kids The World for fund raising and other special events. Dixie
Goolsby, Executive Director of the MCBC sums their involvement
up eloquently, “One hundred years from now we will all
be gone, but a part of what we have done here at the Village
will last forever.”
Give Kids The World is
an over 70-acre, non-profit resort for children with life-threatening
illnesses whose one wish is to visit Central Florida’s
best loved attractions. With the help of many generous individuals
and corporations, Give Kids The World Village then completes
the wish with accommodations at its whimsical resort, donated
attraction tickets and meals for a week-long, cost-free vacation.
CHILDREN'S HOME CRISIS
NURSERY:
When families have problems with drugs, abuse, etc, or are in rehab, or jai,
or homeless, their children are brought to the Children’s Home Crisis Nursery.
The nursery cares for infants up to 11 years of age, and the home usually has
20 – 25 children living at the nursery.
The MCBC builders have been working with
the Children’s Home Crisis Nursery for over seven years
and feel privileged to have been able to participate in special
events for these children including Christmas Parties, Easter
Eggs Hunts, and special trips to Wacky Water World at GKTW.
The Crisis Nursery has a “Clothing
Closet” that depends on community donations to provide
adequate clothing for the children who often come to the nursery
with only the clothes on their backs. No personal belongings,
not even a well-loved stuffed animal. The Master Custom Builder’s
Council also accepts new, or very gently used, clothes all
year around for the children in this program and also holds
a clothing drive for them each November.
THE WINTER PARK DAY
NURSERY:
The MCBC builders and other companies in the construction industry came together
to create a 1,400 square foot addition for the nursery. The additional space
allows the nursery to move the library from the office to this area so the
children, ages 1-2 to 5 years, can check out books and it will also allow space
for music lessons, and other special events. It also allows the teachers to
have space to do lesson planning and to hold parenting classes.
The Winter Park Day Nursery and Orlando
Day Nursery are local non-profit agencies, who serve lower-income
working families. The children attending the nursery are a
wonderful mix of racial backgrounds, and it is unbelievable
to see how well behaved all of the children are at the nursery
and how respectful they are of each other.
This year Mother’s Day was as special
for the children at Winter Park Day Nursery and Orlando Day
Care Center as it was for their mothers. Each year the MCBC
members and many others in the community collect beautiful
pieces of costume jewelry, which are packaged in gift boxes
and each of the children at the Winter Park Nursery and Orlando
Day Nursery are allowed to select a piece of jewelry so every
child has a Mother’s Day gift for their parent.
MCBC TOY DRIVE:
The Master Custom Builder Council holds their annual
MCBC Toy Drive during the month of November and December each.
Each year the MCBC has enough toys to fill up 4 large trucks
and the toys are distributed to the Mustard Seed of Orlando
Toy Bank and St. Margaret Mary’s Toy Bank. These organizations
collect these toys and have them available for parents who
cannot afford gifts for their children because they are experiencing
difficult times during the Holiday Season. Because of the efforts
of many wonderful people, the MCBC has been able to provide
lots of special children with everything from basketballs to
baby dolls, cars and cradles, books and bears, and games of
all descriptions. Bicycles were also delivered to the Children’s
Home Crisis Nursery to ensure those children had a special
Christmas.
The MCBC also works closely
with the Children’s Home Society of Florida,
the House of Hope, Harbor House, Habitat
for Humanity, and many others.
If you want to become a volunteer or help in some way with
any of these great organizations, please let us know, and
we will put you in touch with the right person.
“We
all make a contribution to the world by what we give to others.
What we keep for ourselves goes away when we do.” -Dixie
Goolsby |
