Giving Back
Commonwealth Gives Back:
Volunteering at an Orphanage
Budapest, Hungary
May 2017 - Scott and Noraleen joined a group of Commonwealth volunteers to help rejuvenate the Zsuzsa Kossuth Children’s home in Bicske, Hungary. They worked hard sanding and painting doors for the afternoon, while others gardened and repaired playground equipment. Since 1953, the orphanage has provided shelter and cared for children who have lost their parents or whose families are not able to provide a safe and stable environment. It offers a full education to its young residents, as well as to children from the surrounding area.
Cooking for a Cause
Budapest, Hungary
May 2017 - Noraleen had the pleasure of cooking for a cause while in Budapest as a guest at the Commonwealth Financial Network Leaders conference. A group of attendees joined some local chef’s and prepared Hungarian meals for a local soup kitchen. She enjoyed learning about the local cuisine while giving to others in need.
Guest Giving Back:
Preparing Italian Dinners for
Angel House Soup Kitchen
Commonwealth Financial Network hosted their national educational conference for independent financial advisors in November 2016 at the JW Marriott, Austin, Texas. During the conference, Noraleen participated in an afternoon of giving back to support the Angel House Soup Kitchen. Members of the hotel culinary team enthusiastically lead the guests in a hands-on meal prep experience where they prepared lasagna dinners that were distributed in the evening to Austin residents in need.
Once again, we are proud to have connected with Hands On
Hartford and participated in their Backpack Nutrition Program. The program provides backpacks, full of child friendly and
nutritious foods, to students in Harford living with food insecurity. There are currently 305 children, from four partnered schools, which receive backpacks once per week, October to June.
The LeClaire Team was joined by a group of clients and Heritage Capital Advisors employees to pack the bags of food. Together we packed over 325 backpacks, which accounted for 1,185 pounds of
food!!! We are very grateful to all who participated as well as those who could not attend but provided food to be packed. Giving back to children in the local community is a very rewarding experience.
Also in 2016, Scott and Noraleen were honored to volunteer at Liceo Santa Cruz while attending the Commonwealth President’s Club meeting in Costa Rica in March. Liceo Santa Cruz prides itself on providing essential education for the students of Santa Cruz, offering all children a safe place to learn, nutritious meals, and a nurturing environment.
Scott enjoyed building wooden planter boxes with some students, cleaning up the grounds of brush, and painting, while Noraleen spent her time painting.
In May of 2015, while attending Commonwealth Financial Network’s President’s Club conference in County Wicklow, Ireland, Scott and Noraleen participated in the Commonwealth Gives Back program. The event took place at St. Patrick’s National School in Curtlestown, Ireland. The school dates back to 1854, when it was just a two room schoolhouse. Today the school has three classrooms and houses 76 students ages 4-12.
The school was in need of updating and the giving back group delivered. By lending a hand, the group painted the school, installed a garden for the students to learn about and grow food, put in a fence, installed a Commonwealth Cares donated playground, and cleaned up the grounds. Scott enjoyed painting the school and Noraleen worked on two different gardening jobs. The teachers, children and parents were all extremely grateful for the hard work and updating.
It was a fabulous and rewarding experience for all!
While attending the Commonwealth 2014 Leaders Conference June 15-20 in Sintra, Portugal, Scott, Noraleen, and nearly 70 other volunteers donated their time and energy to help the fight against hunger in Portugal. Partnering with Quinta do Pisão, the volunteers harvested legumes and other vegetables to be donated to local food banks, which over half of the area’s population rely on for meals.
The group was humbled and proud to be able to make a positive impact on the lives of those in host our community.
We are proud to have teamed up with Hands on Hartford - participating in their Backpack Nutrition Program. The program is designed to help alleviate the hunger of children in Hartford by providing them with easy to prepare, child-friendly food to bring home. Children identified as high risk for food insecurity receive a backpack with weekend meals each Friday.
Thank you to those that embraced the spirit of giving and participated in this event with us!
Scott J. LeClaire, CFP®, ChFC®, attended the Commonwealth Financial Network® educational conference for independent financial advisors. Participants gathered in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 6–10, 2013, where they harnessed the collaborative power of peers, colleagues, and industry partners in an effort to provide continued leadership to investors.
While in Phoenix, Scott and Noraleen participated in an afternoon of giving back at Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona, whose mission is to provide affordable housing to families in need. Along with a peer group of more than 150 advisors, guests, and home office staff, Scott donated his time to help frame three new single-family homes for low-income families in the Avondale, Arizona, area.
