The Live Love Serve Foundation is a proud partner of the non-profit organization Cookies for Kids Cancer. Cookies for Kids Cancer is a national organization committed to raising funds for research to develop new, improved and less toxic treatments for pediatric cancer, the number one disease killer of children in the U.S. 

Larry and Gretchen Witt founded the organization after their 2-year old son Liam was diagnosed with childhood cancer in 2007. As parents of a sick child, they were shocked at how few treatments there were for pediatric cancers due to a lack of funding. As they struggled through their own childhood cancer experience, Larry and Gretchen pledged to support the funding and research for safer and more effective treatments for other children in need. Gretchen mobilized a team of volunteers to bake and sell 96,000 cookies to the community raising more than $400,000 for research in the first go around. This is how Cookies for Kids Cancer was born. 

How the Live Love Serve Foundation Partners with Cookies for Kids Cancer 
CBI Workplace Solutions and the Live Love Serve Foundation participated in a fundraising event in which Charlotte businesses raised money to support Cookies for Kids Cancer. Not only did many CBI associates attend the event, but CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation donated a total of $50,000 to the organization. This money will fund research that will benefit more than 40,000 children battling pediatric cancers around the U.S. 
We are proud to support this organization, and we encourage you to learn more about them and find out ways you can help. Visit www.cookiesforkidscancer.org to learn more.   
 

Promising Pages is a non-profit organization that collects donated books and distributes them to children with few, if any, books at home. Their mission is to provide ownership of books to underserved children and cultivate a lifelong love of reading through innovative literacy programs and partnerships.

The partnership between CBI, the Live Love Serve Foundation and Promising Pages is a special one. Promising Pages is one of the first organizations that the Live Love Serve Foundation supported after its inception. David Longo met Kristina Cruise, former founder of Promising Pages, in 2011 at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was presenting to a group of Chamber members about her idea to bring books into the homes of families in our community who do not have extra income to provide them for their children. She spoke with passion about the impact reading books can have on a child, and her energy and vision for the organization was inspiring. 

As the Founder and CEO of CBI Workplace Solutions, David wanted to lend a hand however he could to help Promising Pages accomplish its mission in Charlotte. In speaking with Cruise, he realized that the thing the organization needed most was a space where they could store and sort the books they collected and prepare them for distribution to members of our community. This led to the donation of warehouse space where Promising Pages quickly took up residence and grew their organization.

Nine years later, Promising Pages has distributed almost 700,000 donated books to tens of thousands of children in the Charlotte area. Additionally, Promising Pages partners with 100+ business and organizations to bring direct classroom programming and more than 150,000 free books to Charlotte schools annually.

Eric Law, Executive Director of Promising Pages says, “All of us at Promising Pages are deeply grateful for the ongoing generosity of CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation. David Longo’s initial gift of warehouse space in 2011 enabled our Founder Kristina Cruise to get this fledgling organization up and running (and out of her garage)! More recently, the 2018 tripling of our warehouse space and renovation of adjacent office spaces for our staff is helping us take our operation to the next level. We have continued to increase our supply chain efficiency and effectiveness in this expanded space enhancing our ability to provide book ownership, promote daily reading for pleasure and eradicate the Charlotte area book desert.”

In addition to the warehouse space, CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation have donated more than $68,000 to Promising Pages over the years, and we look forward to continue supporting them however we can in the future. Learn more about Promising Pages and their mission by visiting https://promising-pages.org/.

At the corner of Old Pineville and Yancey Roads in Charlotte, North Carolina, you’ll find CBI Workplace Solutions’ headquarters and flagship building, the place where CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation have been doing business in and serving the local community for more than 25 years. If you are a regular to this area, you’ve probably noticed the evolution of the building’s design and expansion, as it has gone through a few necessary renovations to accommodate the business’s growth. Last year, the building gained quite a bit more character as a long standing vision came to life for Founder and CEO, David Longo. 

“We commissioned a unique mural for the side of our building to demonstrate the mission and values that are at the core of our business and our hearts – We Exist to Love and Serve,” says David. 

The Binocular Wall, as it is so fondly referred to by CBI’s associates and those who are familiar with the painting, represents viewing others through a lens of love, dignity and respect. 

“We wanted our mural to be a message to the Charlotte community. While the wall is a beautiful representation of color and art, it also tells a story about how we should treat others on a daily basis,” says David. “Only by seeing the world through the perspective of another can we gain compassion and empathy for our fellow man.” 

Thank you (CBI) for your leadership in the community. I drove around town with my kids yesterday to just get out, and your beautiful building was our first stop."   -- Lisa Farley, Charlotte, N.C.

The mural is filled with many artistic symbols that tell the story of CBI and the Live Love Serve Foundation: 

• Faces of all ethnicities reflect the diversity of our city and world. Each figure is painted in grayscale to convey our skin is ultimately superficial.
• Bold and exuberant colors are used in the background and contrast with the monotone figures looking through the binocular lenses. This symbolizes that by looking at others through a lens of love, dignity and respect you can see the world and all of God’s creation as it is -- bold, beautiful, and not belonging to only one person or group of people.
• The binoculars are three dimensional and house a one way mirror to give a different perspective whether you are walking or driving by.
• The bible verse 1 Corinthians 10:31 is displayed on the wall. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
• The bible verse Psalm 82:2-4 is displayed on the wall. “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
• An origami dove sits in the center of the mural to remind man that peace and harmony is most important. 
• As the mural wraps to the side of the building it incorporates the words "We Exist to Love & Serve" challenging all to love and serve.

This mural was the contribution of many to the Charlotte community. The team behind the mural consisted of: long-time architecture partner Gensler, who developed an initial art concept; Local Impact Consultant Jenny Vallimont, who helped seek submissions for a partnership with local artists; and Osiris Rain the artist himself who brought this vision to life with his styles, creativity, perspective and team. 

Next time you drive down Old Pineville, and catch a glimpse of our mural, think about its symbolism, meaning, and the impact of loving and serving others.