College of Business Administration

Social and Ethical Issues in Business

Children's Hospital Toy Drive

GROUP MEMBERS:

Jenelle Cahan
Christine Girard
Amy Luca
Chris Powers

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Most of us have memories of growing up with loving parents in a happy home but for some kids memories like these do not exist. They live in unhappy, sometimes abusive homes, which make it impossible to have a normal childhood. The lack of caring relationships will deprive them of experiences that most children will have throughout their lives. This is where the A.B and Jessie Polinsky Children's Center comes in. The Polinsky Center receives children from children who must be separated from their families for their own safely or whose parents have neglected them or whose parents cannot provide care due to incarceration. Our group felt that the Polinsky Center could benefit from the support we could provide with our social change project. The Polinsky Center provides a safe, nurturing and friendly environment for these unfortunate children. The children live, eat, and attend school at the spacious facility on Ruffin Rd. After their stay at the Polinsky Center, the children will either be returned to their home, a relative's home, or a foster family agency home or group home.

We visited the Polinsky Center to see what we could do that would most benefit the center. Through discussions with Polinsky Center counselors and with our own goals in mind we decided to plan a party complete with food and a toy for each child in the 2 to 4 year old age group.

When we discussed the focus of our project we decided that we wanted to focus on children that were either sick or neglected because we felt that children are the future and they are the ones in most need of caring relationships. This aspect of our project fit with the ethic of care.

Another factor that helped us decide on the Polinsky Center was its size. We wanted to choose a large center or hospital in which many children could benefit from our donations. This goal was in line with utilitarianism because we wanted to help the greatest amount of children possible.

After we decided on our party and toy giveaway we gathered our supplies. We secured Oscar's as our food provider. They agreed to provide enough pizza, breadsticks, and salad for 75 people. Getting the food was relatively easy it was the toys that became the problem. We visited a many toy stores and businesses but due to their own toy drives or donations elsewhere they were unwilling to donate. At the last minute when we thought our project was going to be a disaster we go the donations we needed. Geppetto's Toys and Wal-Mart each donated the necessary toys and money. Wal-Mart donated $50 worth of toys from their store and we were able to get 15 toys. Geppetto's offered us Playhoh Kits at cost for $6 a piece. We were able to raise $186 dollars from personal donations: that purchased 31 toys. We had enough toys for our 2-4 year old group.

We held our party and gave out our toys and it was a success. The children were thrilled to get a "snack" and were even more delighted to get their own toy that they got to keep. Hopefully they received a memory of caring to help cancel out some of their pain. But, I think the people who received the most out of the project were us. We had a great time with the kids and we gained memories that we will hold for the rest of our lives.

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