Kay Builders Spreads Joy this Holiday Season

The holiday season is a time for giving. As Lehigh Valley’s 3rd generation, family-owned homebuilder, we want to take this time to give back to the community we love so much.

While Kay Builders enjoys supporting various local causes all year long, the holiday season is the time for one of the biggest charitable activities we participate in, the Holiday Hope Chest Donation Drive.

This is a time when our entire organization comes together with our families and friends to give back to the local community. "It feels wonderful to be able to spread some holiday cheer!” Says Megan Hetherington, Design Studio Coordinator, “I brought my daughter along to help select the gifts and share in the important experience of giving back."

Holiday Hope Chest Donation Drive

As the name implies, Holiday Hope Chests are about bringing hope and joy to children all throughout the Lehigh Valley. Kay Builders participates in this event that is hosted by the Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley. Volunteers all around the region fill shoe boxes with gifts and essentials for children in need, including winter hats and gloves, coloring books, bath toys, puzzles, Legos, stuffed animals, and other fun toys. The Hope Chests are then distributed through local non-profits to help brighten the holidays for kids in the Lehigh Valley community.

Kay Builders’ team members, families, and our friends at Traditional Mortgage and Traditional Abstract all worked together to collect and stock Holiday Hope Chests.

Even some new homeowners caught the holiday giving spirit. Pam Rowe, Sales Manager for The Fields at Lafayette Way Active Adult Community, said “Our newest homeowners at Lafayette Way saw our wrapped boxes and asked if they could take one and contribute. Not only did they make the deadline but they brought enough to fill 2 boxes!”

Each of our Hope Chests were filled with $20-25 worth of gifts and personal care items for children aged 4-5 years old. For every completed box that was donated, Kay Builders matched that with a donated gift card for teenaged children.

The experience had a transformative effect on virtually everyone who participated. For Shannon Cawley, VP of Design and Drafting, the busy-ness of the season had him procrastinating filling the chests. But once he started shopping, he caught the holiday spirit:

“Shopping to fill the Hope Chests turned out to be a very rewarding experience.” Cawley said,  “I was overcome by the Spirit of Christmas as I filled the cart with thoughtful items that I thought any boy or girl would appreciate as a Christmas gift. It was heartwarming knowing that I was helping provide for children that I didn’t even know. I realized that a small effort on my part might have a huge impact on these children. That’s powerful, and something I’m sincerely thankful for.”

Our giving goal as a company was to beat last year’s record of 61 Holiday Hope Chests… and we did! Our final tally:

● We collected 80 Holiday Hope Chests for young children.
● Kay Builders matched this effort with a donation of 80 gift cards for teenagers.
● Our friends at Peoples Security Bank donated an additional 10 gift cards for teens.
● That's a grand total of 170 total gifts donated to help make the holidays extra special for young children and teenagers in our community!

Delivering Joy

Members from our Marketing and Production teams delivered the boxes and gift cards to The Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley on Friday December 5th. The team members who made the delivery were welcomed by volunteers who were blown away by the number of boxes delivered.

"The joy of giving at Christmas is always a heartwarming experience when you can help others”, said Tammy Howells, Production Manager. “Seeing it come to life at the Holiday Hope Chest drive was amazing.  Seeing the wonderful volunteers dressed in holiday garb, moving around like Santa’s elves on a mission for Christmas filled my heart.  The volunteers were so happy and welcoming, showing us around the very busy work area and the mounds and mounds of presents to be delivered to kids all across the area.  After bringing in the wagons full of boxes from all the Kay Builders employees, the volunteers were overjoyed and we exchanged hugs and merry wishes for the holiday season.”

The rest of the team echoed those sentiments. Sierra Dorschutz, Marketing Manager, summed up the heartwarming experience: “Being part of the team that organized the initiative and the group who delivered Kay’s donations to the Volunteer Center made this experience all the more special! This gave the season an extra boost of holiday spirit, and we’re looking forward to what we can do as a team next year!”

Kay Builders Will Always Support the Lehigh Valley Community

As the Lehigh Valley’s premier homebuilder, we are committed to helping various local causes all throughout the year. If you’re interested in building your dream home in the Lehigh Valley, contact us! We can build a CUSTOM-i-ZABLE home for your specific needs and desires!

Call us at 484-353-6100 or submit our online form to learn more about our communities and see for yourself how much Kay Builders cares - about our long-term commitment to the Lehigh Valley, about the needs of our homebuyers, and about building your quality dream home!