Poppy Pandian Activities Director, CareMeridian
Grant Recipient, ASPCA

Poppy Pandian and her family make all the difference at their local homeless shelter in Fairfield, California. Every Saturday for the past 3 years, she and her family have purchased food and prepared a meal to feed 40-50 guests, which they serve at their local homeless shelter for lunch. Poppy also volunteers as a Sunday school teacher at the Christ Church of India in San Jose, CA, where she has been a member for the past 11 years. She teaches Bible study and leads the children’s choir, one of her favorite aspects.

In addition to her outstanding volunteer work, Poppy goes above and beyond the responsibilities of her position as Activities Coordinator at the CareMeridian Granite Bay facility. In an effort to brighten patient and therapy rooms one day, she contacted her local grocery store and asked if they would consider donating flowers and bouquets that didn’t sell. She explained to the store manager that her critically ill or injured residents love the sight of fresh flowers and how it encourages each patient when they aren’t able to go outside. Poppy not only managed to get flowers for that day, but made an arrangement with the manager to coordinate a routine pickup of all unsold flowers every Friday to decorate facility rooms on a weekly basis, which the patients are incredibly grateful for.

The ASPCA, another organization that Poppy supports, will receive a $500 grant from The Foundation in honor of Poppy’s volunteer spirit and hard work.