For more than two decades, one November evening at Floyd & Green Fine Jewelers has been about far more than diamonds, watches and holiday shopping. It has become a celebration of the community that has supported the business for generations, and a chance for that gratitude to travel right back into the organizations and causes Aiken residents hold closest to their hearts.
Night of Giving Back was born from a realization that changed the way Tom Williams looked at his business. Nearly 25 years ago, he sat down to study where Floyd & Green’s customers were coming from. He expected to see a broader reach into Columbia, Augusta and surrounding communities. Instead, he discovered that roughly 96 percent of the store’s business came from the Aiken area zip codes.
In other words, the people keeping the lights on were his neighbors.
Around the same time, local organizations began approaching the store for support. That combination made something click.
“These are the people who keep the lights on,” he remembers thinking. “I just felt a huge need to give back.”
From the beginning, he knew the effort should support nonprofits. The challenge was deciding which ones. Aiken is home to countless organizations doing meaningful work, and he never wanted choosing one cause to mean overlooking another. Eventually, the answer became beautifully simple: let the customers choose.
During Night of Giving Back, 10 percent of each qualifying purchase is designated to a charity selected by the customer. That could mean a beloved Aiken nonprofit, an organization connected to a family’s personal story, or even a cause hundreds of miles away.
Williams remembers one customer whose husband died from a rare disease primarily studied at the University of Utah. Each year, she directs her portion there. The store sends the check on her behalf, just as it does for the many local organizations chosen by customers. Donations are identified as gifts made by Floyd & Green on behalf of those individuals, allowing the organizations to know exactly who chose to support their work.
Sometimes a local nonprofit receives a check connected to 20 or 30 different names.
To Williams, that is part of what makes the evening special. It is not the store deciding what matters most. It is a community collectively showing what matters to them.
That spirit of gratitude runs deeper than a single event. Williams never planned on a career in jewelry. He studied journalism at Ohio University and once imagined working for ESPN. A chance opportunity led him into the jewelry business, then back to school to become a graduate gemologist. In 1994, another open door brought him to Aiken.
Looking back, he sees a path shaped by opportunities, people willing to believe in him and a community that embraced him.
“I’ve been so incredibly blessed with this community,” he says. “How else do you say thank you to people?”
That thank-you has become a tradition with plenty of celebration attached. This year’s Night of Giving Back will take place Thursday, November 12th, from 4 to 8 p.m. Guests can expect delicious treats, cocktails and an expanded assortment from several of the store’s premier vendors. Representatives from brands including John Hardy and Lagos are expected, along with bridal vendors bringing additional collections. Hearts On Fire will be the featured guest, bringing a large diamond selection for the evening.
The result is a shopping experience guests will not find in the store at any other time of year, just as holiday shopping begins.
But beneath the sparkle, food and festivities is something much more lasting. For Williams, giving back is not simply a marketing strategy or an annual obligation. It is recognition that a local business is never built alone. It grows because neighbors walk through the door, relationships turn into friendships and a community chooses, year after year, to support it.
Night of Giving Back turns that gratitude outward.
And in a season centered on thankfulness, perhaps that is the most meaningful gift of all, giving people the opportunity to celebrate what they love while helping care for the community, organizations and causes they are thankful for.
“I’ve been so incredibly blessed with this community.”