Giving Tuesday: Meet the Core Charities and Nonprofit Partners of Holiday Inn Club Vacations

With caring as one of its three core values, giving back to the community is an important part of the history and culture at Holiday Inn Club Vacations. Through longstanding relationships and partnerships, some even beginning with the Company’s founder Kemmons Wilson, Holiday Inn Club Vacations proudly supports many great organizations that align with its own purpose of strengthening families.

In case you’re looking for a deserving organization to support this Giving Tuesday, we wanted to highlight our core charity partners – Christel House International, Easterseals, Give Kids The World Village and Special Olympics – along with a few other nonprofit organizations that are doing fantastic work in the community. Remember, giving comes in many forms, from donations and volunteering, to reading about an organization’s story on its website and helping to spread the word on social media.

Christel House International



Founded by Christel DeHaan, a leader in the travel and tourism industry who co-founded Resort Condominiums International (RCI), Christel House International works to transform the lives of impoverished children by breaking the cycle of poverty and building self-sufficient members of society. The organization provides K-12 education and strong character development programs, along with regular health care, nutritious meals, guidance counseling, career planning, family assistance and college and careers support, to children from distressed communities around the world.

To learn more about Christel House International and its programs and schools, or to make a contribution, visit christelhouse.org.

Easterseals



Serving more than 1.5 million individuals and families annually, Easterseals provides community-based services for people with disabilities, caregivers and veterans. Through a variety of programs and services, and working alongside therapists, teachers and other health professionals, the organization helps children and adults with disabilities and special needs overcome obstacles to independence and reach personal goals.

Interested in learning more about Easterseals or making a donation to the organization? Check out easterseals.com.

Give Kids The World Village



Located in Kissimmee, Florida, Give Kids The World Village is an 89-acre, whimsical nonprofit resort that provides week-long, cost-free wish vacations to critically ill children and their families from around the world who want to visit Central Florida. Holiday Inn Club Vacations has partnered with and supported Give Kids The World Village since it was founded more than 30 years ago by Henri Landwirth.

For more information on Give Kids The World Village, visit gktw.org. Or for a special way to support the organization and celebrate the season, check out Night of a Million Lights, a walk-through holiday light spectacular taking place each night at Give Kids The World Village until Jan. 3, 2021. Tickets for the event can be purchased on gktw.org/lights.

Special Olympics



An internationally known organization, Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. With more 100,000 competitions throughout the year, Special Olympics brings the transformative power and joy of sports to more than 6 million athletes and Unified partners in over 170 countries.

If you’d like to learn more about Special Olympics and the many opportunities to get involved with its upcoming competitions, visit specialolympics.org.

Even More Great Organizations to Support

Outside of its core charities, Holiday Inn Club Vacations supports many other organizations through various Company drives, influencer partnerships and volunteer activities. Each of these nonprofits are using their unique expertise and established network of resources to make their respective communities a better place. Some of these organizations are household names, while others may be new to you, but regardless, we’d encourage you to check them all out!

• Accessible Vacations – Danny Pitaluga and his family are on a mission to enable people with disabilities and their families to explore the world around them by overcoming the many obstacles to accessible travel. Through education and advocacy, Accessible Vacations seeks to help the world better understand individuals with disabilities and improve accommodations available to the disabled community.
• A Gift For Teaching – As Central Florida’s primary provider of free school supplies, A Gift For Teaching works to improve public school education by providing resources and surplus materials free to teachers for their students in need. The organization serves 287 public schools in Orange and Osceola counties, which results in more than 240,000 students whose families live at or below the poverty line receiving the supplies they need to succeed.
• American Cancer Society – A global grassroots force of 1.5 million volunteers dedicated to leading the fight for a world without cancer, the American Cancer Society believes in attacking cancer from every angle. This means researching cancer and its causes to find more answers and better treatments, promoting healthy lifestyles to help you prevent cancer, fighting for lifesaving policy changes and more.
• Clean the World – By collecting and recycling soap and hygiene products from hospitality industry and other sectors, and then distributing those items to impoverished communities, Clean the World is helping to prevent millions of hygiene-related deaths each year. Since its founding in 2009, the organization has provided more than 50 million bars of soap to children and families in 127 countries worldwide, eliminating more than 20 million pounds of waste.
• Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida – With a vision of inspiring and engaging the community to end hunger, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida collects, stores and distributes donated food to more than 550 feeding partners in six Central Florida counties. These partner programs include food pantries, soup kitchens, women’s shelters, senior centers, daycare centers and kids cafés.
• Toys for Tots – To help less fortunate children experience the joy of Christmas, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation collects unwrapped toys and distributes them to economically disadvantaged children. Local campaigns are conducted annually in over 800 communities, covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. To date, the organization has distributed 584 million toys, which supported 265 million children.
  
  

The spirit of giving is really what makes the holiday season special. No matter how you choose to celebrate, we hope the holidays bring plenty of laughter, cheer and generosity to you and your families!

Happy Giving Tuesday!

Tom Nelson

CEO