PHILLIPS – Opening an envelope with a $250 surprise certainly does great things for the spirit at the ZONE, exclaimed Gillian Trapp, co-chairwoman of the ZONE Youth Activities Center.

The staff of GH Bass Distribution Center in Wilton “is happy to be a part of making our community a safer and better place,” stated Mary Richard, chairwoman of the Bass Community Fund-Raising Committee and Human Resource manager for the distribution center.

“If the ZONE moves to a larger space, we would love to buy them something such as equipment for the kids to learn and have fun.” The community mission of the ZONE is just terrific and we support the work going into this effort”, she continued.

“The Bass Co. has always been very involved with the community,” Richard said. The manufacturing section of G.H.Bass closed five years ago with an operation of 500 people. This business was formally acquired by Phillips Van-Heusen and is headquartered in South Portland currently. “Now we have the warehouse and distribution staff, which include 78 full-time employees at the Wilton site,” she added. These employees decided to form a committee of 8 to 10 people and continue the community giving tradition.

Employees of Bass conduct fund-raising activities throughout the year. The largest fund-raising activity is the giant shoe sale once a year. The Bass Co. donates all these shoes to the committee to raise money for community gift-giving.

Twice a month the committee gets together to review requests. There is one stipulation for applications for funds and that is it must be a not-for-profit organization with a broad community benefit. Each year these employees give $20,000 to special programs and activities. Out of this $20,000, $5,000 goes to Operation Santa Claus, leaving the remaining $15,000 to be awarded elsewhere.

The G.H. Bass Fund-Raising Committee would like more applications for these special programs and projects to consider. They welcome groups to apply at any time.