Hi! I’m Adrienne and I work at SquareTrade. Several colleagues have asked me about what Servin’ Saturdays is and how it got started. Well, I’d like to share that with you – our online community – as well.
Together with generous volunteers and donors, Servin’ Saturdays provides warm meals, clothing and hygiene items to Oakland’s Curbside Communities. Our mantras are simple: “Together We Share” and “Humans Helping Humans.”
For quite some time now, my friend Christine was involved with similar outreach events that focused around giving our East Bay unhoused community an opportunity to sit down at a table and have a warm meal. Noticing that I was also giving back and organizing initiatives for the community, Christine reached out and we decided to join forces. In February 2019, Servin’ Saturdays was born.
SquareTrade and Connects (our company-wide philanthropic initiative) has been a massive help in getting this program off the ground: allowing us to setup donation stations in the office, using leftovers from catered meals, donating unused serving dishes and encouraging employees to join. Several of our colleagues have donated funds and supplies and we’ve even had folks come out to volunteer on a Saturday afternoons. We simply could not do this with out the support of a SquareTrade, donors and volunteers for their continued participation.
So how can you participate, you may ask. There are several ways to give back:
1. Come on out and volunteer. We typically serve either the 3rd or 4th Saturday of the month from 10am-1pm at 4200 Alameda Ave. Oakland (across from McDonald’s). I’ll typically send a form to sign up soon after the last event.
2. Send cash donations via Venmo: paypal.me/servinsaturdays OR @Adrienne-Muller (please reference Servin’ Saturdays)
3. Drop off clothing/bedding (clean and used/new) and hygiene items to Adrienne at SquareTrade SF. In Oakland? Please reach out and we can make arrangements for me to pick up.
4. Do you have Amazon Prime or Google Shopping Express? Send us an email and we’ll let you know how you can send hygiene kits, new underwear/sock packages, blankets and other hygiene items directly to SquareTrade. (Email: st-connects@squaretrade.com )
Click here for a complete list of items needed.
5. Do you like cooking… A LOT? We’re always looking for people to help us cook. Please reach out if you’d like more info.
6. Please take a moment to like us on the FB: @servinsaturdays
