SAN ANTONIO — Michael Perkins' speech to his employees is off the cuff, but from the heart.
"Not only will we bless the people that we give to you today," Perkins said. "We'll bless a lot more people than that."
Each year, the CEO and managing partner of Slattery Perkins Ramirez (SPR) gives the accounting firm's employees strong encouragement for their annual "Giving Legacy" challenge.
They listen attentively at a conference table as he leans in on a tenet.
"Our mission is to grow family legacies through generosity," Perkins said. "Not only do we get to bless people financially, but we get to just bless them in so many ways."
The firm started the challenge three years ago after seeing a video produced by Red Wagon Properties in San Antonio. In the video, the employees get put in charge of the property management's charitable. Cash gets handed out, and the workers must go out to make a difference because "they are the company."
"It instills in them a spirit of generosity that they may not otherwise know or have," Perkins said.
After submitting their ideas two weeks before the money distribution, SPR provides its employees $1,000 each.
"No rules. Just go be a blessing in the community," Perkins said.
First-year employee Nicole LaFond is a former teacher and mother of four sons.
"I definitely wanted to do something that would impact children," LaFond said.
She said a ton of ideas came to her. LaFond decided to help a couple who were not able to have children. The woman is a teacher and friend.
"I could never imagine not being able to have my own children," LaFond said.
LaFond's friend adopted three sisters in 2021. The woman and her husband also took in two boys, former students, who became their sons this week.
"To see someone love someone else's children right just as much if not more than you love your own," LaFond said. "That's just a really, really touching thing."
As a former educator, LaFond remembers the challenges of salary and multiple children. She wanted to give her friend's family a financial gift going into the holiday.
Her bosses were so impressed with the effort they gave her more money to buy SeaWorld tickets for the family. The friend had not taken her family to enjoy the park as a goer and not a teacher doing headcounts.
Lafond's coworkers Kim Stanley and Keri Saiz donated to the Ronald McDonald House.
Stanley and Saiz are sisters who worked on their giving project together. Their children have had stays in the hospital, and their mother had a bone marrow transplant.
They provided 26 patients and families at the house touches of comfort during their stay for medical treatment.
"All the infants got the most precious blankets," Saiz said. "Everyone had different ones, and nothing was the same."
The sisters gave the families Amazon gift cards, coloring books and mats, books, word searches, toy trucks, blankets, pillows, and personalized cards.
"Writing each child a little note and putting their name on it just gave me this connection," Stanley said.
SPR's Frankie Martinez donated to the special education department at Harmony Hills Elementary School in memory of his late aunt. She worked with special needs students for more than 30 years.
Stephanie Castro gave $500 to her pastor. She said he is retired from the United States Air Force and loves God.
Amy Hawkins gave her son's school enough money to buy two Ipads. Hawkins gave a $100 appreciation gift to a teacher.
Raymond Johnson treated them to lunch after stocking the teachers' bookshelves and supply closets. He also bought children's books from a book fair and even took the time to purchase a hair accessory for a female student trying to get her hair right.
Random generosity hit Target and H-E-B. Paige Scheffler and Monica Hummel gave $2,000 in gift cards to people they did not know.
Employees Megan Boyd and Alejandra De Los Santos passed out $100 gift cards at H-E-B.
"Luke chapter 12 (Of the Holy Bible), verse 48, reminds us that to whom much is given, much is expected," Perkins said.
Year-one employee Jenny Wolff felt like she was paying a debt and paying it forward simultaneously.
"People don't come back unless there's a problem," Wolff said.
Her daughter and son got help from the Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas. The non-profit supported them when the family needed it the most.
Wolff's children's father was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2018. She said the program from the bereavement center gave her children life again.
As a family, they wanted others to access the same resources.
"It was so impactful for our family, and it was so special for my kids to be able to navigate life again," Wolff said.
Perkins said the company's "Giving Legacy" day energizes him. The company celebrates by sharing the eating and sharing their experiences.
Beyond the $40,000, Perkins gives too. Last year, he had their security guard over for the company's celebratory burgers. The guard left in tears after Perkins gave her $1,000.
This year, as he bought food at the store for the celebration, a group of firefighters had their groceries paid for.
"You put this in people's hands, and you see the looks on their faces," he said. "You see the emotion, you feel the emotion."