Gig Harbor Ace Hardware donates $2,700 to Vaughn Elementary

With nearly 40 years in Gig Harbor, community is very important to the employees and owners of Ace Hardware.

Every year, the business picks out one organization for its holiday donation, said owner Maggie Garber, who owns the store with husband Del and partners Mike and Lisa Mikami.

“Every year in all our history we’ve made donations,” she explained. “I have been aware of Vaughn Elementary for many years. However, I didn’t realize the depth of the poverty on the Key Peninsula.”

The donation recipient is announced to employees at the beginning of December and the business matches all employee donations.

This year, employees donated $1,103, which the business matched and rounded up to a total of $2,700 for the school.

Garber contacted Vaughn Principal Susan O’Leary about the donation and how the school would like to receive the funds.

Hearing that the teachers at the school often need funds to meet individual student needs — anything from gloves to snacks — Garber followed O’Leary’s request and divided the donation into 21 $100 Target gift cards, one for each of the school’s teachers and one for O’Leary.

The remaining $600 was left to use for a larger school project, Garber said, and the donation was delivered to the school on Dec. 15.

“We’re supporting the people that support us,” Mike Mikami said, adding that the store often puts out donation jars and contributes to disaster or emergency relief funds, along with donations to community and local organizations.

“It’s just always been (the) philosophy here that you have to do good,” Garber said. “It just creates a good environment in the store with our employees.”

Gig Harbor Ace Hardware is located at 4816 Point Fosdick Drive and can be reached at 253-858-6169.

This story was originally published December 29, 2016 at 10:38 AM with the headline "Gig Harbor Ace Hardware donates $2,700 to Vaughn Elementary."