A while back, our branches had a lot of fun decorating boxes for a school supply campaign. You might remember the pictures that were floating around on social media. Not only was it an effort to come together for one cause as an organization but it was also a great little team building exercise within each branch.
Boy did our branches show up to that challenge too! Like our Five Forks branch for example; who picked a school locker as a theme! If that wasn’t creative enough, they even scanned employee photos and cut out faces to makeshift school pictures and magazine articles! It really looked like a school locker!
The Hayes and Lively staff members tagged their friends individually putting out a plea to vote on their pictures! It was a strategy that served them well, as both branches received over 300 likes! Thus leaving the other branches behind in their dust and deeming the Hayes branch as the winner of the competition.
But speaking of serving — not only do we like to have fun at Chesapeake, but we also care a great deal about the communities that we get to be a part of. There is really no better difference that you can make than one in the life of a child. That’s how we knew that the YMCA “Bright Beginnings” campaign was for us!
As taken from their site “YMCA Bright Beginnings is a community outreach program that provides children in need with the new clothes and school supplies needed to start the school year with confidence and excitement.” Our Regional Manager Sam Poole states "This is such a rewarding program. It allows children to focus on school vs. worrying about what they don’t come to school with or what they are wearing.”
We were able to raise over $1500 for the campaign corporately in addition to the supplies collected. The Williamsburg region alone sent 20 kids to school with a full school supply list while fully dressing another 5 students. Our other branches, including back office departments and other lines of Business, were also successful in their portion of this campaign. We send heartfelt “Thank you” to all of our customers and businesses that helped to make it that way!
This is an annual effort by the YMCA. If you’d like to be involved you can visit their site and look for details next summer.