Lyndia Ardoyno’s Caring Spirit – with Outsell and in Retirement
Lyndia Ardoyno, a treasured member of the Outsell family, retired in mid-December. After so many years of contribution and caring, the company offered a parting gift of “One Free Spa Day Anywhere in the World.”
One day recently, Lyndia had been planning on using her free spa day when life handed her the opportunity for the best reward, to make a positive difference in someone’s life.
Her daughter is a therapist in Raleigh for Haven House, a company that cares for homeless and endangered youth, among other services. Their company tagline: Haven House Services. A place for Help. A reason for Hope. They have been struggling to continue to provide those services after cutbacks in funding.
One of the programs at Haven House is a transitional living program for young adults. This program is designed to help youth aged 18-23 learn basic life skills and transition to permanent housing. For the past six months Lyndia’s daughter has been working with an exceptional young woman who has overcome tremendous obstacles since her early teens. She beat the odds and graduated from high school as a single mom and is now training to be a Medical Assistant. She will graduate the end of May and start a new chapter in her life.
This young woman worked diligently in the Haven House program to become eligible for an apartment. However, the week that she was to receive her apartment, unexpected budget cuts from the county ended the program until the new fiscal year. Lyndia’s daughter was the person who had to tell the young woman that, despite her hard work, she and her five-year-old child would not be moving into a new apartment. Exhausting all other options, Haven House has made an exceptional effort with an email funding appeal, with some success, but the funding is still short.
Lyndia read her card from Outsell that accompanied the free spa day coupon, which stated, “Thank you for your contribution and caring.” As part of The Outsell Caring Committee, Lyndia has always been an advocate of going a step beyond to help others. Looking at her free spa day coupon again, she realized that helping this young woman, who had worked so hard to make a successful life for herself and her daughter, would be a lifetime reward. So she asked Outsell CEO Mike Wethington to exchange the spa day for a contribution to Haven House that will help provide a place for the young woman to start a new life.
In a letter to Outsell, sharing with all associates these events, Lyndia said:
Having seen the generous spirit of so many of you, giving your time and money to those in need, I wanted to share this story with you. I am proud to have worked for a company that valued community involvement and charitable contributions. This young woman’s story is a reminder of how effective that involvement can be, and what a difference it can make.
Thinking of all of you,
Lyndia