March 6, 2008

Helping kids one toy, map & dictionary at a time

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Almaden Valley’s Pat Conte has a thing for making kids happy.

Almaden’s Pat Conte (left) was given an award at the Family Giving Tree’s celebration luncheon to honor her for her efforts with the non-profit. She posed at the luncheon with Queen Elf Jennifer Cullenbine. Photo by Julie Davis Berry

She’s raised three sons and is now a grandmother. Perhaps that is why she is drawn to help out children through the Family Giving Tree and various local schools with her role as coordinator of the AT&T Pioneers – Almaden Council.

FGT serves low-income children during the holidays giving them each a personalized gift of their choosing. Last year 60,000 received their personal holiday wish thanks to schools and companies who acted as the liaison between employees and the children. And in August, FGT runs a backpack drive that served 15,000 children last year.

The AT&T Pioneers – Almaden Council is the philanthropic arm of the telecommunications giant and one of the largest industry related community service organizations in the world. Although the name is deceiving it includes retired and current AT&T employees throughout the South Bay – not just in Almaden. It boasts 200 paying members.

In Conte’s role as coordinator of the organization she also chooses how to allocate money to the organizations of her choice. “Since I have access to the budget I choose the community organizations I want to help, and last year I used $3,000 of our budget to personally buy gifts for Family Giving Tree kids,” said Conte. “My sister and I had a fun time buying all of the gifts the children wished for.”

Conte says they like volunteering at the huge Family Giving Tree warehouse during August and December because “we can volunteer at night and on weekends and it fits into our lives. A lot of non-profits require people to volunteer during the work day and a lot of people just can’t do that.” She also likes the fact that there is a variety of jobs they can do at the warehouse, including wrapping, sorting and bagging the gifts for the agencies to pick up and deliver to the children.

Conte went one step further last holiday season and applied for and got a $5,000 grant through AT&T for the Family Giving Tree. The money came in handy for the non-profit during a holiday season where donations were affected by the downturn in the economy and numerous toy recalls.

Conte and the Pioneers received an award at the Feb. 6 Family Giving Tree Holiday Celebration luncheon for their efforts with the non-profit.

The AT&T Pioneers – Almaden Council pose before wrapping presents at the Family Giving Tree warehouse last December.

“Pat has an amazing ability to get things done and we are very grateful for all of her hard work in helping the children we serve,” said FGT’s Executive Director and Queen Elf Jennifer Cullenbine.

“What touches Jennifer’s heart and soul is the same thing the touches mine: making the kids happy,” said Conte of Cullenbine.

Another project that the AT&T Pioneers have been working on is going to local elementary schools and painting a map of the United States on the playground. They have created the colorful maps at several schools in the Oak Grove school district including Del Roble, Frost, Park View, George Miner and Alex Andover. In addition, the Pioneers participate in Dictionary Days at 10 schools where they pass out brand new dictionaries to third grade students. “It’s great to see the smiles on their faces when they receive their first dictionary,” she says.

Conte has lived in the same Almaden Valley house on Woodruff Drive for 32 years. She and her husband raised three sons on the quiet street. A lot has changed over the years. “My friends used to consider my street to be out in the boonies, but now I’m near where Almaden Valley starts,” she said. “It just goes on and on now.”

For more information regarding the Family Giving Tree visit www.familygivingtree.org.