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‘Twas the month of festivities and all through Protravel, the agents were stirring, getting ribbons to unravel. The gifts were lined up all neat in a row, waiting to be wrapped and finished with a bow.
Those gifts, organized at Travel Leaders Group headquarters in New York, were headed to the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. There, for the 35th year, Protravel International and the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation held a holiday party for more than 400 children and their families on Dec. 8.
Some 100 representatives from Protravel staffed the event, which included food, crafts, games, a visit from Santa and, of course, presents for each child. It has grown significantly since it was founded by Andy and Elaine Pesky.
The husband-wife team started the event when Andy Pesky owned Zenith Travel and he decided to scrap the gift exchange the company normally held during the holidays in favor of a more charitable endeavor. Today, Andy Pesky is Protravel’s senior vice president of leisure sales and marketing and Elaine Pesky is a Protravel advisor, and they still organize the event. Andy Pesky himself is a survivor of a brain tumor.
“I was lucky,” he said. “I was fortunate. So any way that we can give back, we try to. I think what’s really so gratifying is how everybody gets involved.”
In addition to Protravel volunteers, attendees included staff from Tzell Travel Group and First in Service Travel, a branch of Tzell. (Protravel and Tzell share a parent company, Travel Leaders Group.)
The Peskys start planning for the event each year right after Labor Day. It takes a lot of time, money and effort, but Elaine Pesky said it’s worth it.
“Just to see the smile on their faces, it says it all,” she said. “It really is meaningful.”
Protravel president Becky Powell described the event as both emotional and rewarding.
“In the travel industry, we’re so fortunate that we really get to live a dream every day, and we have to remember that there are people who are less fortunate, whether it be for medical reasons or financial,” she said. “They don’t get to live the life that we have, and the minute when we can help them experience a small dream is just so rewarding.”
Source: travelweekly.com
