Tag: Community Service

Holiday Fundraiser For Families

Posted on by Melissa Silver
Sam Young, Megan Walker and Ken Ampy pose with the $1,000 check.
Thinking of others is in the air this holiday season! 
 
Megan Walker is a local sports legend; having led Monacan High School to three State Championships before heading to UConn for her college career. Now, as a WNBA professional, Megan wants to give back to her community and she’s doing so through the Ronald McDonald House charities. 
 
Helping the community is right up Astyra’s alley and part of our mission. So, we partnered with Ms. Walker to donate to the worthy cause.

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#MLKDay2019

Posted on by Melissa Silver
#MLKDay2019 Logo
Virginia Union University hosted the 41st Annual Community Leadership Breakfast on Friday, January 18th. Our CEO, Ken Ampy, and approximately 700 attendees heard from Governor Northam, Mayor Stoney, Congressman Scott and many more influential speakers.
 
The presenters challenged listeners to “Make it a Day ON, not a Day Off” in reference to the #MLKDay movement. The #MLKDay movement strives to use the national day of service to empower individuals, strengthen communities and bridge barriers to help create solutions to social problems and pass on the message of Dr. King to future generations.
 

“One of Astyra’s founding principles focuses on community service and community leadership. We encourage everyone to find an opportunity to be of service to someone else this #MLKDay,” Astyra’s CEO, Ken said.

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August 2018 Is The Month Of Giving!

Posted on by Melissa Silver
Carmen posing with eggs
Vivia, Melissa, Carmen, Tianna, Ken and Taylor
Jody, Melissa, Tianna, Brenna and Carmen
Carmen at the YMCA Bright Beginnings Program
Cutting bagels, organizing donations and greeting everybody with a smile was the job of six Astyra employees on an early Tuesday morning.
 
At Shepherd’s Way Relief Center, Astyra helped prepare and serve breakfast to 133 people in need.  Sigmund Collins founded the center in 2012 to provide relief from the afflictions of poverty in the Richmond area.
 
That morning, the kitchen manager Richard Lepper, showed up at 6:30 to make seven pounds of grits and about 25 dozen eggs. At 8:30 a.m., Astyra volunteers arrived not knowing what to expect but excited to work and help out in the community.
 
On one side of the kitchen, Carmen handed out hard-boiled eggs while Tianna passed out a variety of bagels. Our CEO, Ken, got an intense arm workout from scooping the crowd’s favorite: cheesy grits drenched in butter.
 
Just past the serving table, Melissa sweetened everybody’s day by giving them sugar packets for their coffee. Vivia helped flavor the bagels by providing jelly, cream cheese and butter. Lastly, Taylor was in charge of ensuring everybody had the utensils they needed to enjoy their hot meal.
 
Astyra also had an office drive the month before that led to three large bags of clothes, jewelry, shoes and a box full of canned foods and toiletries being donated to Shepherd’s Way Relief Center.
 
Later in the month, six Astyra employees participated in another staff volunteering day at Bon Secours’ Evelyn D. Reinhart Guest House.
 
The Reinhart House is a place for patients’ families to stay as opposed to driving far distances to and from the hospital. As a way to support the families, the lodge allows volunteers to come and cook a meal for the residents.
 
Astyra has been a long-time volunteer for the Reinhart House, which made it easy to prepare for the day. The Astyra volunteers made vegetable breakfast casserole muffins, home fries, bacon and biscuits.
 
Melissa multi-tasked between supervising and frying the home fries. Carmen and Jody focused on cutting the onions and tomatoes while Tianna whisked the eggs. Brenna was on bacon duty ensuring they were just the right amount of crispy. Our CEO, Ken, baked the biscuits to a golden brown.
 
The breakfast turned out to be a hit!
 

“The breakfast flew out of here – loved by everyone,” said Elisabeth Rigsby, house assistant.

Carmen was a superstar this month!

In addition to attending our volunteering days, she also volunteered with the YMCA’s Bright Beginnings program to take a child back-to-school shopping just like Victor did earlier this month!

“As a 1st time participant in the YMCA Bright Beginnings program, being able to help kids feel good about themselves in school and beyond was rewarding. It reminded me of how incredibly blessed I am, and that encourages me to want to give back even more,” Carmen said.

She plans on helping out with this program again next summer!

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Astyra Visits The Reinhart Guest House

Posted on by Melissa Silver
Ken Ampy is on the St. Mary’s community foundation board and has volunteered to make meals at the Reinhart Guest House 4 times. 
Ken’s passion for the community has resulted in Astyra staff getting involved too. 
We made dinner for the guests at the start of the year, and decided to return again on December 16, 2015. 
 
Astyra’s office opened a little late that day as we spent the morning preparing breakfast for the guests staying at the house. 
We made “make-your-own” breakfast burritos for the guests!
 
There are many ways you can get involved. To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the guest house, click here.  

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Community Service Award

Posted on by Melissa Silver

In late January, Astyra Recruiter, Victor Rogers was honored with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major for Service Award for his community service commitment in the Greater Richmond area. Victor received the President’s Volunteer Service Award – Gold (PVSA) during the year of 2014.

Some of the community services actives that Victor was involved with in 2014 were afternoon school mentoring at Ratcliffe Elementary School, leading voting registration drives, and participating in the YMCA Bright Beginnings program. In addition to these activities Victor also assisted in developing several community panel discussions as the President of the Urban League of Greater Richmond Young Professionals. 

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