As many of us know the holiday season is a time of giving, Golden Pond Assisted Living located in Hopkinton, took that to the extreme this year with a new initiative to ‘give back.’

Staff and residents at the assisted living, along with staff from the center’s child care decided to raise funds to support the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Through contributions from payroll deductions and one-time donations the group has raised $14,526 for this year so far. “We have as a group been personally affected in recent years by cancer,” said William Marr, Executive Director. “Dana Farber seemed like the right choice for us to give back to,” he added.

Golden Pond is not limiting this initiative to just financial donations that will go to support research and care, new technology and even new centers to serve people in more areas.

The group is also supporting staff who would like to give back in other important ways too such as volunteering time or energy to other important causes. In fact, in the coming months Mr. Marr is asking each of his department heads to come up with creative ideas to give back whether it is through donations, volunteering his or her time or even something as simple as gathering a group together to make cards for soldiers serving overseas (something the group did together recently with the children and residents designing and decorating over 40 holiday cards to send to soldiers who wouldn’t make it home for the holidays).

Staff members also recently took the initiative to support the American Cancer Society through their Daffodil Days program contributing $180 to the cause which Golden Pond matched bringing the total contributions to $360.

Giving isn’t a new idea at Golden Pond and Golden Goose; both groups have been supporting local families in need in conjunction with resident families and parents of the children attending the Golden Goose. Amongst some of their charitable recipients are Project Just Because and Voices Against Violence. This initiative is a little different however, and the long-term goals quite a bit bigger.