November, 2005

Frisco Style Magazine

Rudy Andrea sits on the board of With Love It's a Small World, a charitable partnership, where he is Vice-President of Public Relations and Special Events. Small World was featured in this holiday edition of Frisco Style Magazine. Written by Debbie Vallejo. View excerpt of article.

 

From left: Jill Cumnock & Reverend John Peel, Frisco Family Services; Rudy Andrea, Thamara De Leon, Small World; Kimberly Girard, Frisco Family Services, Janet Maccubbin, City of Frisco at After All These Years, Downtown Frisco. Photo by Steve Gallegos of Lone Star Photography.

"...it is important to remember during the holiday season that while we are all in need, there are always those 'in need' more."

Small World
by Debbie Vallejo

With Love It's A Small World was founded in 1996 by local school teacher, Thamara De Leon. De Leon conducted a random survey of her students Christmas of '96 and realized many of them would not receive what one would call "a real Christmas." She scrambled and helped as many students as she could manage that year and the idea for the organization was born.

Small World consists of three programs; the Back to School Program, the Scholarship Program and the Angel (Christmas) Program. In partnership with area schools, companies and the community, Small World assists struggling families in need of food, clothing, shcool supplies, emergency funds and holiday gifts. The goal is to provide for the basic needs of the family to better enhance a child's ability to stay in school and focus on his or her education.

The Frisco Independent School District (FISD) provides a large amount of space during the Christmas season to house donations for families involved in Small World. Each year the client list grows and the needs of the organization grow with it. "We are 100% volunteer," explains Rudy Andrea, Vice President of Public Relations and Special Events. "We are not compensated for the time we spend on this program. We do it because we believe in helping out our kids."

Small World is unique because it made the commitment to keep overhead expenses down to nothing. "One hundred percent of donations go to the families," says Andrea. Understandably, when a non-profit relies soley on volunteers to keep its program running, there is always room for anyone willing to lend a helping hand. "We really need volunteers to help coordinate the resources like gifts and food. Coordinating the gifts has become a monumental task," explains Andrea.

Acknowledgement

This feature is an excerpt from the November 2005 issue of Frisco Style Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for the community of Frisco, Texas. The full article was written by Debbie Vallejo, a freelance writer living in Frisco.

 

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