Polston Tax has always prioritized serving their local community and giving back to those in need. The firm organizes quarterly volunteer events and encourages all employees to participate. Team members that volunteer are able to do so during work hours without being docked on their pay or having to use any time off. Charity and generosity are deeply rooted in the culture at Polston Tax!
Bridges of Norman is an organization that provides housing and other services to high school students in Norman that may be going through a family crisis. Along with allowing the teens to live at their apartments, the Bridges of Norman also helps provide school supplies, tutoring and sport, and extracurricular supplies at no charge to the student. The organization also provides career coaching and mentoring programs for their students. To help the Bridges of Norman help serve the teens in the community, the team at Polston Tax spent the day cleaning and painting shutters for the apartments that the teens live in.
Polston Tax got the chance to volunteer with Madison Elementary for the second year in a row. This year the Polston team got to help the elementary school with several projects. Our team helped clear out the school garden of weeds and other items to help the food they had planted grow. Our team also helped place and level out sand for their garden shed so it didn’t flood whenever it rained. Other members of our team got to help paint a sensory path on the school’s sidewalk!
Our team got to help Emergency Infant Services in Tulsa service infants in need in the area. Our team was able to come in and help sort clothing for the children along with helping sort toys and books and help put them on display for families that come into the organization. Emergency Infant Services helps provide basic need items for children five and under. Families may come for assistance up to four times in a calendar year. The organization can provide clothing along with diapers, food and formula.
United Way of Norman host an annual Day of Caring where the organization provides an opportunity for businesses to lend a hand and volunteer with a local non-profit agency. The Polston Tax team got the opportunity to volunteer with Madison Elementary School. Despite the rainy day, our team members helped paint picnic tables, sort through old boxes, organize classrooms, help teachers hang up decorations and was able to pass out popcorn to the kids.
Our team members got a day full of cuddles and kisses when they volunteered at the Oklahoma Humane Society. For two days, our team helped socialize the dogs and cats at the shelter, clean cages, food bowls and other items and help create adoption folders and other items that would help the humane society. The Oklahoma Humane Society works closely with several local shelters to ensure the elimination of euthanasia of healthy, adoptable animals in the Oklahoma City area. Since opening in 2007, they have found homes for over 25,000 cats and dogs! To learn more about the Oklahoma Humane Society and how you can help, click here!
The Infant Crisis Center has a simple mission, to make sure no baby goes hungry. They provide families with life-sustaining formula, food and diapers. A parent in need can go to the Infant Crisis Center and receive a week’s worth of diapers, food, and formula. When our team members volunteered at the center, they were able to take a tour of the center and then were able to package food bags that would be given to parents of toddlers.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is the largest hunger-relief charity in the State of Oklahoma. They provide enough food to feed more than 1,360,000 Oklahomans every week. On November 15th, the Polston team was fortune enough to volunteer at the Food Bank. They helped package bread items such a hamburger and hotdog buns, bagels, honeybuns, cinnamon bread, and plain bread. Our team helped package hundreds of boxes that would be delivered to hungry families the next day.
The Tulsa SPCA mission is simple, they want to improve the lives of dogs and cats, and their human companions. They believe in help educating their community on animal issues and proper care. On July 18th, the Polston Team volunteered at the shelter. Our team members got to spend time playing with the animals at the shelter, and also assisted the shelter staff with other items that were needed.
As many of our employees and their families are affected by cancer, our company was a sponsor for the 2018 Outpace Cancer 5K. 10 members of our team ran in the race to support cancer research in hopes of a cure!
The Polston Tax team got the opportunity to volunteer for United Ways’ Day of Caring event in September. 12 employees spent the day volunteering at the Women’s Resource Center in Norman. The Women’s Resource Center is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals who have experienced violence in the Cleveland County Community. The center has specialized services catered to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The center does not charge for any of its services and you don’t have to be a resident of the shelter to receive services. The Polston Tax team was able to help the Women’s Resource Center by doing several different activities that helped them provide services to others. Members of the team sorted through boxes of donated clothes and toys and then helped organize them for easier access. The team also helped clear out the garage and took large trash items away. Other team members helped build benches and other items for the Center’s office and other areas. Polston Tax was happy to have the opportunity to be a part of United Ways’ Day of Caring and to be able to help an amazing nonprofit like the Women’s Resource Center.
The Rod Polston Servant Heart Foundation always looks at ways to help those in our community and that means helping people with whatever they need. A member of our team was notified about a colleague that needed help moving due to severe health issues. Over a dozen employees braved the freezing temperatures to help pack and unpack a moving truck for one deserving family. Team members helped pack, wrap and load items from the house and then helped unload and unpack boxes and furniture at the next house. Polston Tax was honored to be part of the group that helped such a deserving family.
It wasn’t a quiet Tornado season in Oklahoma, as storms destroyed different parts of the State. Early in the season, Elk City and the surrounding area was hit hard by a tornado and left homes destroyed and people without a place to sleep. Polston Tax raised money through donations from employees to help the families in Elk City out. Through the Servant Heart Foundation, Polston Tax sent over $5,000 to farmers and ranchers in the area to help rebuild the fences that they needed for their animals that were destroyed in the storm. Along with the money to help build the fences, the Servant Heart Foundation also raised nearly $2,000 to send to several families that had their homes destroyed. Each family received over $500 to help rebuild and replace items they lost in the storm.
Months later, the city of Tulsa was hit with a small tornado and some clients of Polston Tax were directly affected. Polston Tax once again used the Servant Heart Foundation to raise funds to help some of the families and businesses affected by the tornado. We were able to raise over $1,000 to help the families out. We also found out about a local fire department that had worked hard to save one of our client’s homes that caught fire during the tornado and ended up saving his beloved dog from the flames. Several members of the team baked cookies and other goodies for the fireman and brought them the gift basket to thank them for all they do. Along with a gift basket for each family, the Servant Heart Foundation gave monetary donations to three families whose homes were damaged by the tornado.
Infant Crisis Services works to make sure no baby in the city goes cold or hungry. The organization provides formal, baby and toddler food, diapers, blankets, clothing and other basic necessities. A parent in need can go there and receive a week’s supply of diapers, a weeks’ worth of formula, a pack of baby or toddler food, clothing, a bottle, a pack of wipes, a sleeper, socks, and blanket, an age appropriate toy, and a book. A parent can visit up to five times in the baby’s first 48 months.
On July 6th, members of the Polston Tax team helped package 255 diaper packages for distribution to families. That’s over 11,000 diapers!!
