Through PDS Cares each team member personally selects organizations they wish to make discretionary donations to throughout the year. By encouraging and facilitating employee donations, we not only support our community, but also offer a sense of fulfillment to our team members.
PDS Cares has contributed to over 100 organizations, many of which have received multiple contributions. Read more about a few charities that really resonate with the PDS Team.
Gifts of Kindness
The Gifts of Kindness Fund is a community-focused fund helping central Ohio individuals and families with emergency needs. Established and fueled by the generosity of Columbus Foundation donors and kindness champions throughout our community, the Gifts of Kindness Fund provides one-time grants to help individuals and families in our region address a sudden financial hardship caused by an unforeseen event or disruption. Working in partnership with dozens of Central Ohio nonprofits, the fund offers critical, timely support to help people weather the unexpected, ensuring that one setback doesn’t spiral into prolonged instability.
Giving Tuesday begins on Tuesday, November 28th, where “all donations made to the Gifts of Kindness Fund will be matched up to the $1 million thanks to a generous gift from the Wolfe family.” It’s an incredible opportunity to double the impact of any donation to help the people in our community. Click here to learn more!
Pickles Group
In the last couple of years my family has chosen to support Pickles Group with our charitable giving. In late December 2018, my lifelong friend Ned Smith was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Ned, his wife Erin and their 4 children, Finn, Beckett, Eliza and Cecily knew their lives would be forever changed. As Ned navigated his cancer journey, he met other parents who had also been diagnosed with cancer and one of their commonalities involved their kids, who were struggling in similar ways. “Our kids were saying the same things,” says Ned. “Feeling very lonely, and needing to be around other people who knew what they were going through.”
The Smith 6, as their family and friends often call them, along with 2 other families decided to create their own year-round community of kids supporting kids who are impacted by their parent’s cancer. Pickles Group started in 2019 and has grown into a thriving community of peer-to-peer support and resources to kids affected by their parent or guardian’s cancer. As Erin wrote, “It’s nice to feel the other kids just ‘get it’ without having to explain anything. When you can be with people who just get it, you’re able to be yourself. Ned and I have made it our mission to help people going through similar situations. Our kids have seen that and they want to be part of it too.”
Sadly Ned passed away in the fall of 2021, three years after being diagnosed with cancer. I wish Ned was still here to see the community he inspired in Pickles Group and I know he’d be incredibly proud of how Erin, Finn, Beckett, Eliza and Cecily have carried on his legacy.
Pink Warrior Advocates
By: Kevin Doll, CFP®
In January of 2022, I received the worst call a brother could hear. My sister Jen Reynolds, diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 at 32, having battled stage IV metastatic breast cancer for over 3 years, was given 6 weeks to live. A week later, she was gone, but her story and stories of other survivors live on through Pink Warrior Advocates, a charity Jen started after her diagnosis.
While Jen had a few close friends and family to lean on, she had treatments, a double mastectomy and anxiety from her diagnosis without anyone to speak with who had been on this journey. When her initial treatments were completed, Jen felt a passion to help others. It started with a simple blog outlining her experience for others to know what to expect. She started making drain bags and pillows for others who had mastectomies. Jen’s vision grew into a network of advocates where women could reach out to other warriors and survivors for support and information so they never felt alone.
Jen’s experience and dedication grew into Pink Warrior Advocates (https://www.pinkwarrioradvocates.org/), a non-profit offering support to breast cancer warriors and survivors through several programs, including:
- Chemo and mastectomy kits
- Mastectomy bra program in concert with AnaOno
- MetaWish, which grants wishes to stage IV warriors
- TV Thursdays
- Financial aid awarding $5,000 – $10,000 per month to help local warriors with medical bills, rent, food, wigs, etc.
All of this would have been an amazing feat for a healthy person, but Jen had metastatic breast cancer, changed treatments several times, learning to deal with new side effects each time and at times unable to walk or get out of bed. Through it all, she kept a positive attitude and worked hard to try and help as many people as she could.
I remember the days after Jen left us, listening to stories of many of the women she helped and encouraged. I remember a huge party of warriors and a community of people she helped build honoring her after her funeral. I am so extremely proud of what she built and could not be more grateful to the women, men and community who have kept her legacy alive. I am proud to support such an amazing organization.
I read Jen’s words every day. While hard to do some days, we can all try to appreciate the joy around us.
“My hope for you – for anyone reading this little part of my journey – is that you feel inspired to stop, take a deep breath, and inhale all of the incredible, SIMPLE joys that surround you. Help someone in need. Share your own story. You never know whose life it might change. Not one of us here on this earth is guaranteed a tomorrow. Be present, ground yourself, forgive and offer yourself the patience you deserve to always feel the joy that these moments bring. Joy isn’t complicated. Neither is hope. It’s simple and it’s everywhere.” – Jen Reynolds
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