Los Angeles Company Verifi Provides Hillsides with Snow-Filled Winter Carnival

On December 10, 2014, Hillsides main campus in Pasadena was turned into a winter wonderland. Verifi, Inc, a leading provider of end-to-end chargeback prevention and recovery services as well as payment and fraud protection solutions for card-not-present (CNP) merchants, provided the children who live at or attend school at Hillsides with a winter carnival, complete with a sledding hill, a petting zoo, hot chocolate and snacks, and many other games and activities.

“This was a once-in-a lifetime experience for the children, some of whom have never seen snow,” said Hillsides Director of Community Resources, Laura Kelso. “Verifi brought in 15 tons of snow, and the children had a wonderful time sledding and building snowmen.”

The petting zoo was another big hit with the children. The zoo contained goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. A crowd favorite was an affectionate white goat wearing purple wings named Princess.

About 100 employees of the Los Angeles, CA-based company helped plan and staff the carnival. Besides sledding, the carnival also included a giant inflatable obstacle course, a basketball game, a photo booth, and painting stations. They also gifted mp3 players, Legos, and Target gift cards to each of the children and youth.

Verifi sponsors a charity event four times a year and encourages all employees to participate in the company-wide event. “Giving back is one of the most mentally healthy things that individuals can do, and I want to give my employees the opportunity to do good in the community,” said Matthew Katz, Verifi’s Chief Executive Officer. “I was raised to give back, and I also want to model this concept for my three-year-old son.”

Employees at Verifi chose Hillsides for its winter community project because they were impressed with the charity’s dedication to children and youth in need, many of them who are in the foster care system. The Verifi Human Resources team came up with the idea of a winter carnival because they wanted to give the children a holiday experience to remember filled with snow, games, and presents.

Sixty-two children live at Hillsides in the Residential Treatment Services program. Hillsides provide a safe and stable environment where children and youth who cannot live at home, have suffered trauma, or have severe emotional or behavioral challenges, can thrive. Hillsides Education Center, a therapeutic residential and day school for children with special needs in kindergarten through 12th grade, is also located on the Pasadena campus. In addition, Hillsides offers numerous community-based mental health programs and a program for youth transitioning from the foster care system to adulthood, Youth Moving On. Hillsides was established in 1913, and serves more than 8,900 individuals. For more information on Hillsides, please visit www.hillsides.org.

Since 2005, Verifi has helped merchants protect their payments and boost profits. Offering a wide-range of flexible, configurable fraud prevention and chargeback management tools, Verifi makes it easy to prevent and fight payment disputes, protect the entire transaction lifecycle and increase revenue. Verifi is PCI Level 1 certified. For more information about Verifi, please visit http://www.verifi.com