Five Questions With: Patricia O’Donnell Saracino

"One of the best things about the Holiday Giving Tree program is that children get to share their individual wish lists."

Patricia O’Donnell Saracino, Bank Rhode Island vice president of community relations, is just one of several BankRI employees and customers to participate in this year’s Holiday Giving Tree program. The bank was able to gather presents from 19 branches and donate more than 1,000 gifts to underprivileged children. Saracino, no stranger to thinking of others, was recently honored by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute as “Angel in Adoption,” which she was nominated to by U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin.

PBN: Why does BankRI participate in the Holiday Giving Tree program and how does it work?
SARACINO:
As a local company, we feel it’s important to be a good corporate citizen and that means being active in the community and giving back to help improve the lives of others. Beginning in late November, each of our 19 branches displays a Holiday Giving Tree and partners with a local nonprofit that provides us the holiday wishes of the children they serve. Each wish is placed on an ornament and hung on the tree, giving customers and staff an opportunity to select one and provide that child with holiday gifts. Donors then return to place the gifts beneath the Holiday Giving Tree, where they’re picked up by our nonprofit partners for distribution.

PBN: How do you encourage customers and community members to participate?
SARACINO:
The Holiday Giving Tree has become a long-standing BankRI tradition. Now in its 17th year, it’s a program that I know our customers and staff look forward to each year. We have extremely loyal and generous customers; many go to their local branch weekly for their banking. Because the program is very visual – along with the tree display, we hang posters and signs in advance of the kick-off – our customers immediately recognize it as an opportunity to help underprivileged children. We have customers who have been giving to the program since its first year.

PBN: What’s the response been like this year and how has it compared to years prior?
SARACINO:
I’m truly in awe of the response we receive, not only each year, but also when thinking about the number of gifts that have been donated since 1998. We’re talking about thousands of gifts. I think the program really resonates with people; the holidays are a special time of year, particularly for children. And when you have children who may not experience the season the way others do, it elicits emotion and a desire to help. Each year, we typically receive between 500 and 600 gifts, but this year’s response was overwhelming. We ended up with more 1,000 gifts, a substantial increase over the 665 collected in 2013.

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PBN: How is your working relationship with the nonprofits?
SARACINO:
We have great relationships with a lot of nonprofits across the state, not only for the Holiday Giving Tree, but for our wide-range of charitable initiatives. Many of the nonprofit partners of the Holiday Giving Tree have been with us for years, so the program has really become a finely-tuned machine. They definitely appreciate our efforts and the generosity of donors. Nonprofits are constantly working hard to do more with less, so any additional support they receive, especially during the holidays, is always welcome. It directly helps those they serve.

PBN: What types of gifts have you seen this year, how are they distributed and what does it mean to the children who receive them?
SARACINO:
One of the best things about the Holiday Giving Tree program is that children get to share their individual wish lists. It makes easy for donors to get the exact gift that will bring a smile to a child’s face. Some of the gifts donated this year include Lego sets, arts and crafts kits, Transformers, board games, remote control cars, character pajamas – Frozen was very popular, Barbie dolls, and superhero action figures. Each nonprofit picks up the gifts at their designated branch and then distributes them through their program. There’s no question that the Holiday Giving Tree helps brighten the holidays for children who otherwise may not have [had] any gifts to open on Dec. 25.

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