As reported and written by Channel 2 News,
On Your Side “Good Neighbors”. 

November 2016
In the midst of grief, a Clarence Center couple and the community are coming together to be grateful and give back, and that’s why they are this week’s 2 On Your Side “Good Neighbors.”

The Gratitude Tree, adorned with little orange tags, has become a familiar landmark at the corner of Goodrich and Clarence Center Roads in Clarence Center. We first featured it last year, when it went up in memory of 19-year-old Paul Englert, Jr., who died suddenly in 2013 of a pulmonary embolism. His parents saw it as a way to help cope with their grief. “Everybody has something to be grateful for. No matter how bad things are you still have something to be grateful for,” said Paul Englert, Sr.

And now as the seasons change, so will the tree. The Gratitude Tree tags written by members of the community are being taken down and the Giving Tree angels are going up.

“It’s a community project and it’s just neighbors helping other neighbors, and it’s exciting because when we work together some very wonderful and powerful things happen,” said Deborah Tangelder, owner of the Perfect Gift, the store in front of which the tree sits.

Tangelder is encouraging folks to go into the mailbox, pull out an angel, and bring into the store to be assigned a person or family in need.
The gifts will be collected through Saturday, December 3. “That person is really just adopting that family or individual to give them a blessed Christmas. Then they bring the gifts back here and we distribute them to the families,” said Tangelder. The Englerts say The Giving Tree was Paul’s favorite book. Now this Giving Tree, will live forever in their hearts.

“The holidays are very difficult for us, so this gives us something to focus on, and helping others is really the only thing that makes you feel better,” said Denise Englert. Tangelder says she feels blessed to be able to give back. “It’s a gift being able to do something to help someone and make a difference while you still can. We only have one shot here on earth and we want to make it count.”

If you’d like to learn more about becoming an angel to help someone, or if you need assistance and would like your family to be on the receiving end, call Deborah Tangelder at The Perfect Gift- (716) 741-0722.

 

Since our inception in 2003, The Perfect Gift has been intimately involved in serving local and surrounding communities of Western New York.  Over 2,000 charitable events (including local families, schools, churches and national groups) have been supported through employee participation, product/monetary donations, and promotion.  

The Perfect Gift Gives Back 

The Perfect Gift has provided jobs to over 25 Western New York residents over the last nine years, and enabled over 40 local artists to pursue their living.  Additionally, our store has served as an incubator for 10 start-up and women owned businesses whose products are distributed through us.

We have helped our community in times of celebration as well as times of tragedy.  The Perfect Gift supported the families of the victims of Flight 3407 plane crash that struck directly behind our building in 2009, by allowing them to use our facility to meet, as well as contributed time in extensive planning to create the first FLIGHT 3407 MEMORIAL RUN and sponsorship, which raised $55,000 for the families of the 51 passengers who perished.

We are proud to help support Buffalo’s Cornerstone Manor Women’s and Children’s Shelter.  Over the years we have collected over one thousand personal use items and gifts for woman who have been affected by unemployment, domestic violence, drug and/or other addictions.  The Perfect Gift also hosts an annual fundraiser to support The Jacquie for A.L.L. Foundation for Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in honor of a dear customer who lost her battle with Leukemia in 2008.

In 2009, we served as an incubator space for “Wear N Share”, an organization that collects and distributes clothing and shoes to families in need in the Western New York community.  As a result, this partnership with us and physical space given to them, helped the organization to grow and obtain support to finance their own facility, with now an even greater capacity to serve others.

In 2011 our store coordinated and participated in a shoe drive, collecting over 2,000 pairs of new and gently used shoes from our community to assist the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan and the Pacific Rim.

In 2012 The Perfect Gift sponsored a giving campaign for the local family of Wilson, NY that suffered loss after a tragic house fire and explosion. It was a busy year of making a difference in what really counts, including a new handbag giveaway with our “Pay it Forward” tent to benefit the women at Response to Love organization, as well as fundraising to help educate and bless women in Haiti who were recently rescued from sex trafficking.  Yet there was so much more we wanted to do…

In 2013, we announced a bold campaign that was placed on our hearts as the TRUE purpose behind The Perfect Gift.  Since then, our storefront has given back 100% of profit to support local community, worthy charitable causes, and especially those in need, in order to be a true ambassador of God’s love.  We are honored and blessed to work in partnership with you as our customer, to help those around us both near and far. It is our hope to inspire others to do the same.  Could there be a more perfect gift than that?

Additionally, The Perfect Gift has received the following community honors:  The Town Beautification Award (for improvements to the visual appeal of the inside and outside of our building and surrounding area);  The Young Leader of the Year Award from Clarence Chamber of Commerce (for role in revitalizing  the economy of the Hamlet and for exceptional outreach to community); The President’s Award from Amherst Chamber of Commerce (given in recognition for being a catalyst of change to the area for economic growth, persevering during the tragedy of Flight 3407, and creation of a local merchants group, Meet in the Center).

As a founding member of Meet in the Center Merchant Association, The Perfect Gift has actively participated in meeting the association’s goals to foster economic and community development  through recruitment, collaboration, event planning, and creation of business district landmarks.  The Perfect Gift has supported other surrounding businesses, as well, in our common goal of making Clarence Center a destination for shopping, dining, and exploring.

Thank you for your support of shopping local and purchasing with a purpose at The Perfect Gift & Boutique!

 

Many of the product lines we carry also share in our “Giving Back” philosophy: