Whew! Is it dusty around here or is it us? Time for some Spring cleaning!
It’s been quiet around here at the ol’ Caring Committee blog, but rest assured good things have been happening. First, we announced a yearlong partnership with local charity Youthlink to help combat youth homelessness in the region.
Children and Homelessness are two of our big areas of focus this year (as voted on by Outsell associates) and so we think Youthlink helps us with that quite well.
Second: The announcement of Caring Points! Are you a chair on a local charity’s board? Have you donated to a cause that’s close to you? Did you get dragged along by your S.O. to rake leaves somewhere? Why not get some points for it? Top 5 points-earners each quarter can claim some pretty sweet prizes (with the 1st place winner getting a cozy little Caring Bear to snuggle with at their desk!) You can redeem any points here. (P.S. Anything you did in March 2019 will be rolled into Q2 points, so don’t let your good efforts go to waste!)
For our event recap this month, we’ve got a guest post from Denise Slattery in Finance. Denise helped lead the charge for our first ever co-event with Youthlink: serving food at their facility. Denise and crew helped feed delicious tacos to a large amount of youth experiencing homelessness. You can even watch a time lapse of the event.
Take it away, Denise!
I am going to share with you our first Volunteer opportunity for our new Caring Committee partnership with Youthlink.
Our first event was the Sponsorship and preparation of lunch for 75 clients and staff.
Upon our arrival at Youthlink, Nell Campbell, Trevor Gehring, Kevin Finley and myself met with Jolena Song, the Volunteer Coordinator. She gave us a tour of the facility and told us about the various programs provided for their clients.
After the tour, Jolena introduced us to Kitchen staff, who are all clients there. The experience they gain by working in the kitchen helps them get jobs in the foodservice and hospitality industry.
We then got to work cooking, chopping and preparing all the fixings for a delicious taco bar. Kevin not only helped with chopping, he also shot a video of the preparations in the kitchen. Trevor had what we considered the hardest job, chopping all the onions and not crying.
We really had a great time working together and received many praises from the people there, as this was one of the favorite lunches to be served.
Thanks, Denise! What a great way to kick off the Caring season for Outsell. We’re hoping all our events with Youthlink, both at the facility and outside of it, go as smoothly and are as well-received as this one. It’s only possible with the help of volunteers of Outsell and those coordinating events like this one.
If you’d like to hop on the Committee and help us with an event, let Linnea, Andrew or Erik know. We’d love to have you aboard! Stay tuned for more announcements of events to come, along with recaps like these.
And don’t forget to get in your caring points!
The revamped Beer Tour was another resounding success for the Outsell Caring Committee, drawing a brew crew of 23 thirsty associates and $237.11 going to Avenues for Homeless Youth. According to their website, “Avenues for Homeless Youth provides emergency shelter, short-term housing and supportive services for homeless youth in a safe and nurturing environment.”
The first event on Outsell’s Caring Committee calendar took place two weeks ago with a return of the Spring Bake-Off. All told, Outsell associates pitched in $278.64 for the Animal Humane Society.
All that chili fuel didn’t go to waste, as just a few short hours later Outsell team members met on Floor 31 for the reanimation of Outsell Game Night! Between various video and party games, associates raised an additional $114.