'Tis the Season for Giving By Jessica Pagano - Sales & Marketing Analyst, B2BGateway With the holidays behind us, I find I’m finally able to fit back into my pants that do not have an elastic waist. It’s not an easy process, but the fact that I’m able to button them is a small victory. Along with the few happy pounds I gained this season, I’m still sporting some leftover holiday glow. It’s amazing how the holiday season instills in us this desire to give and spread cheer. At B2BGateway, we’re a pretty easy going group of average Joes. Whether it’s an intense game of lunch break Wii ping pong or a weekend scavenger hunt, it’s safe to say when we’re not working, we’re doing something fun. This past holiday season, we put our best foot forward to help make our neighbors’ holiday season just a little bit brighter. Starting in November, B2BGateway staffers grew some great (and not so great) mustaches for Movember. The international movement raises funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. More than a dozen staffers graciously sported their fuzzy nose neighbors for the month of November to raise nearly $500 for the charity. Come December, we kicked it up a notch with a bunch of local fundraisers like the You Have Enough Stuff toy drive, organized by one of our awesome programmers, Jared Graham. The program celebrated its 12th anniversary and has raised more than 3,000 toys to-date. All the while, staffers brought in four big boxes worth of goods to be donated to Operation Holiday Cheer. The contributions were then delivered to Rhode Island National Guard to be packaged and delivered to our troops overseas. B2BGateway makes charitable donations year-round to terrific organizations such as the Jimmy Fund, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and local youth athletic programs. This holiday season, with the tragedies that has struck our neighbors at Sandy Hook Elementary and those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, our desire to make the holidays brighter for our neighbors was overwhelming. While the offerings might seem small in retrospect, the impact was great and the reward insurmountable.