EDUCATION MANAGEMENT CORPORATION’S “PROJECT RUDOLPH” DASHES IN TO HELP FAMILIES IN NEED BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS

Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corporation (EDMC) will make the holidays a little brighter this year for several families served by the Western Pennsylvania Salvation Army. The more than 40 members of the EDMC External Affairs team decided to forgo an annual holiday office party and instead, invested their resources in making the holiday wishes of needy families come true this year.

On December 9, the department spent the day fulfilling wish lists requests from the Salvation Army families -- shopping, wrapping and delivering gifts, and spending all of the money typically allotted for an office party. 

“To us, the holidays have become more about joining forces and pooling resources for a greater good,” said Tony Guida, Senior Vice President – External Affairs at EDMC.  “We wanted to come together and do something meaningful that reflects on our company’s commitment to community service and doing things right, and ‘Project Rudolph’ has embodied a new tradition of giving here.”

Members of EDMC’s Regulatory Affairs and Compliance, Communications & Public Relations, Government Relations, and Strategic Development departments divided into teams, each adopting families in need. Named after Santa’s reindeer (Teams Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, and Vixen) teams visited local Pittsburgh area stores, and spent more than $3,000 to purchase needed gifts, clothes, toys, and other items specifically requested by the families.

“EDMC and ‘Project Rudolph’ are shining examples of what happens when we put others needs before our own wants,” said Sandra Wolfe, case manager at The Salvation Army’s Steel Valley Worship and Service Center in Homestead, which received the gifts in time for Santa’s delivery this season.

“Receiving the gifts and imagining the faces of the families who are going to receive them brings both joy and hope to my heart,” Wolfe said. “Joy, because I know each of these families would not have Christmas if it weren't for the gifts that were purchased by EDMC and the participating departments. Hope, because it shows me that in this crazy world we live in with all of the tragedies and disparities we all read about and see daily, there continues to be love, generosity, and good will for others in the hearts of mankind.”