At Nuvision, being part of a community means more than having a branch in the neighborhood. It means showing up, supporting local organizations doing important work, and finding practical ways to help the people and families who call those communities home.

As summer winds down and families prepare for a new school year, much of our recent NuvisionCares work has focused on helping children and teens start the year with the clothing, backpacks, school supplies, and other essentials they need to feel prepared and confident.

Here's a look at some of the ways our team and community partners have been making a difference.

Southern California

Helping Kids in Our Communities Clothing Drive Benefiting Robyne's Nest

Our 5th annual NuvisionCares Helping Kids in Our Communities Clothing Drive ran from July 1 through August 3, and it was another success.

Nuvision team members and members of the community came together to donate new clothing and everyday essentials for local students through Robyne's Nest, an organization that supports at-risk and homeless youth throughout Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, and surrounding communities.

Our volunteers delivered hundreds of new clothing items to Robyne's Nest at the end of the drive. From there, the donations go out through the organization's own programs and through local school counselors who work directly with teens and families in need.

For teens dealing with housing instability or difficult circumstances at home, something as basic as having new clothes for school can make a real difference. The items collected through this year's drive will help local students head into the new school year with more of what they need to focus on school and the opportunities ahead of them.

Our partnership with Robyne's Nest extends beyond the annual clothing drive.

During a recent Nuvision Member Appreciation Celebration in Irvine, NuvisionCares also presented Robyne's Nest with a $2,500 donation to help support the organization's work providing housing, food, transportation, mental health support, and other essential resources to local youth.

We're grateful to everyone who donated, helped collect and deliver items, or supported the drive in another way. Community efforts like this work because a lot of people are willing to contribute a little bit of their time, resources, or support to help someone else get a better start.

Helping Kids Head Back to School with His Little Feet

Nuvision is also continuing our support of His Little Feet and its work with children and families throughout Long Beach.

On August 22, our team spent the day at the organization's 12th Annual Back-to-School Fair. Nuvision came on as the event's Backpack Sponsor with a $2,500 donation toward backpacks and school supplies, and our team members were there in person to help hand them out.

More than 250 kids from across the Long Beach area came through the fair, including children in foster care and children staying in local shelters. Each one picked out a brand-new, name-brand backpack already packed with supplies, then got a new pair of shoes to start the school year in.

Watching a kid find the backpack they wanted was the part our team kept talking about on the way home. Thank you to His Little Feet for the invitation and for the work they do in Long Beach all year long.

Alaska

Winter Essentials Drive Supporting the Clothesline Project

In Anchorage, we teamed up with Anchorage Cops for Community for the fifth year running, this time for the organization's 12th Annual Clothesline Project.

The Clothesline Project gives local families a chance to shop for clothes at no cost as they get ready for the school year and the winter that follows it. Our winter essentials drive contributed 2,000 reusable hand warmers, 500 disposable hand warmers, close to 2,000 pairs of gloves, and more than 500 beanies for kids in the area.

Anchorage winters are long, and school runs straight through them. Gloves and a beanie are small things on their own, but they're what makes getting to the bus stop in the morning manageable.

Thank you to the Anchorage Police Department and everyone at Anchorage Cops for Community for having us back again this year.

Bay Area

Infant Essentials Drive for White Pony Express

For the second year in a row, our Bay Area team ran a drive for White Pony Express, a Contra Costa County nonprofit that gets food, clothing, and essentials to families who need them.

This one focused on the youngest kids in the community. Together, our team and members collected roughly $2,000 worth of infant clothing, baby care products, diapers, towels, and diaper bags.

The donations will go into the baby backpacks that White Pony Express distributes to new mothers in September. For a family in a tight spot, having clean clothes and supplies ready for a newborn takes one real worry off the list.

Stronger Communities Start with Showing Up

Every one of these events looks a little different. Sometimes it's filling backpacks or collecting clothing. Other times it's volunteering, sponsoring a local event, supporting a nonprofit financially, or simply giving an organization the resources it needs to reach more people.

What connects all of them is the belief behind NuvisionCares: when we invest our time and resources back into the communities we serve, we can help create opportunities that reach far beyond a single event.

Thank you to our team members, Nuvision members, community partners, and volunteers who continue to make this work possible. And most importantly, thank you to the local organizations that are in these communities every day doing the hard work of helping children, families, veterans, and neighbors when they need it most.

We'll continue sharing more from our summer community events as they happen.