Courtesy Erika Garcia Cowger, Lyon County School District
Two rural Nevada Title I schools and the surrounding community indulged in a shopping spree made possible by online retailer Zulily and its many vendor partners. The schools walked away with over $10,000 apiece to complement their fundraising efforts and the community indebted.
On June 1, the Silver Springs community benefitted tremendously from a community and employees sale held at the Silver Springs Community Center. Zulily, through its thousands of vendor partners, provided the enormous pallet loads of product to be sold at the community sale.
In the months leading up to the sale, 45 team members from Zulily’s Reno, NV Fulfillment Center (NVFC) joined in the effort and volunteers from Silver Stage Elementary and Middle schools spent their free-time organizing the community center, and on the day of the event, helped the event run smoothly.
The sale provided $20,355 in profit to be split between the two schools.
“It was remarkable to see the outpouring of support from all stakeholders,” Silver Stage Middle School principal Amber Taylor said. “Our families were able to afford quality items at discounted prices. The fact that Zulily helped facilitate the donation of merchandise, on behalf of their vendor partners, that generated over $20,000 was amazing. However, everyone – parents, students, schools and Zulily – working together as one team was the greatest takeaway.”
After years of trying to get the funds, the elementary school finally met their goal to purchase new playground equipment and the middle school has a large head start toward new bleachers, which will cost them $50,000. In addition, thanks to Zulily and its vendor partners, the Silver Springs community and its surrounding areas were able to benefit from brand new merchandise at incredibly low prices. Name brand infant car seats and apparel went for pennies on the dollar.
“The largest impact was to the community members themselves,” Amanda Peterson, team member at the NVFC. said. “A teacher purchased dresses for two young students. It was their first dresses owned and not hand-me-downs, dresses of their very own. Almost every school staff and board member approached me with tears in their eyes to thank Zulily for its generosity to not just the schools themselves but for the families and children that live in the area. Opportunities to purchase things they normally would not have the funds for. There were many tears of pure gratitude, heartfelt joy and thanks. I certainly did not leave dry eyed.”
Zulily’s footprint in the community has had a considerable impact over the past few years. In just 2018, Zulily has volunteered across eight different organizations in the Northern Nevada region, including the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, The Down Syndrome Network of Northern Nevada, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Silver Stage elementary, middle and high schools, Reno Coat Drive, Boys & Girls Club, donating over 1,700 hours of time.
In 2019, the Zulily Reno Fulfillment team has already donated 536+ hours, including the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Pinnochio’s Moms on the Run event and the Sierra Safari Zoo.
From January to June 2019, Zulily’s Reno fulfillment center has helped facilitate the donation of 12,000+ products to the local community, on behalf of their thousands of vendor partners. In 2017 and 2018, Zulily’s Reno fulfillment center volunteers received an award from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada for donating the most volunteer hours of all other organizations.
“As General Manager of online retailer Zulily’s Nevada fulfilment center, my goal is to deliver an exceptional customer experience by making sure each and every customer receives the perfect order,” Greg Gorby, General Manager at NVFC, said. ”My team and I are continually focused on unlocking the next wave of fulfillment efficiencies and improving quality and speed for our customers. Additionally, I help enable and facilitate opportunities for our local Reno team to give back in our local community. We aim to be great partners and make continual efforts to give our unique skills and talents, as well as donate merchandise from our vendors partners, to help foster and grow the greater Northern Nevada area.”
The impact from Zulily’s community involvement was that of a heart-felt nature and one that called many in the area to the event. In a pre-sale plus the large community sale, the event had over 600 community members attend and purchase items.
“Because of their generosity, our community was able to acquire some great quality items and clothing at an extremely discounted prices, Silver Stage Elementary School principal Mindi Hammill said. “The benefit to the community was largely the low cost of the items they could purchase – they were able to get clothing and household goods that are not easy to come by. The schools were also able to come together in a giant example of teamwork and pull off an event that served the community. Zulily is a fantastic company that is extremely supportive of the communities that they serve.”
To see some pictures of the event – click here.
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